SUMMI-R 

WITH    ITIE 


HENRY  SCIII:NI\OFSKY,PM.D. 


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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 


A  Summer  With 
The  Union  Men 


Henry  Schenkpfsky,  Ph.  D, 


San  Francisco 
Harr  Wagner  Publishing  Company 


Copyright.  1918 
By  HARR  WAGNER  PUBUSHING  CO. 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 
CONTENTS 


PAGB 

I.     Introduction 9 

II.     I  Visit  the  Labor  Halls    .     .  17 

III.  Longshore  Work      ....  27 

IV.  Seattle  and  Tacoma  Car 

Strike 39 

V.     The  Red  Side  of  the  City     .  49 

VI.     The  Lumber  Strike  ....  65 

VII.     I  Ride  Hobo  Style    .     .     .     .  75 

VIII.     With  Union  Men  in  the 

Harvest  Field 93 


1457S4S 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 


CONTENTS— Continued 


PAGE 

IX.     The  Problem  of  Rest    .     .     .  107 
X.     The  Would-be  Union  Man    .  113 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 


I:  Introduction 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 


Introduction 

1AST  summer  when  the  Government  was 
very  much  perplexed  as  to  how  the  crops 
^  were  to  be  gathered  when  milHons  of 
young  men  were  called  into  training  camps 
and  on  Government  jobs,  I,  for  one,  an- 
swered the  call  and  volunteered  to  stack  over 
seven  hundred  acres  of  wheat.  When  I  signed 
up  with  the  harvester's  league,  which  had 
representatives  all  over  the  western  Slope, 
and  I  asked  where  my  services  might  be 
most  needed,  I  was  told  to  go  to  Eastern 
Washington. 

The  lady  at  the  office  said  that  it  got 
fearfully  hot  in  those  Washington  hills  and 
advised  me  to  purchase  khaki  shirts,  straw 
hat  and  overalls,  as  other  pants  would  let 
in  the  wheat  beards,  and  to  wear  the  thin- 
est  kind  of  underwear,  and  strong  leather 
gauntlet  gloves. 

I  bade  the  small  congregation  adieu,  for 


1 0      With  the  Union  Men 

which  I  had  been  preaching  in  Oakland,  and 
made  all  necessary  arrangements  to  go. 

My  wife  thought  that  a  little  Ocean  trip 
would  be  good  for  her  too,  so  we  decided 
to  have  her  and  my  son  accompany  me  as 
far  as  Seattle;  and  there  they  could  rest  a 
few  days  and  then  return  as  she  wished  the 
Ocean  trip  more  than  anything  else. 

About  the  middle  of  June  we  left  San 
Francisco  on  the  (Great  Northern)  steamer. 
It  was  a  foggy  and  rather  stormy  morning 
to  start  with,  and  we  were  rather  late  in 
getting  started,  but  at  last  we  pulled  out 
of  old  Frisco.  As  the  boat  was  making  her 
way  through  the  Golden  Gate  she  com- 
menced to  rock  and  the  wind  blew  fiercely. 
We  went  down  to  our  room  to  make  ready 
to  go  below  to  the  dining  room.  Our  state 
room  was  very  comfortable  indeed  but  it 
proved  to  be  entirely  too  attractive  for  we 
were  not  all  of  us  able  to  go  on  deck  for 
another  moment  during  the  entire  trip  of 
about  thirty  hours.  I,  myself,  had  a  few 
years  previously,  taken  a  trip  to  Europe  and 
returned,  suffering  very  little  inconvenience 


Introduction  1 1 

from  sea-sickness,  but  the  sight  of  my  wife 
and  Httle  boy  constantly  resorting  to  their 
emergency  cups  proved  to  be  too  much  for 
me,  and  I,  too,  in  a  short  time  succumbed 
to  the  habit. 

Of  course  no  one  said  much  of  it  until 
we  had  entered  the  mouth  of  the  wonderful 
Columbia  river,  but  we  did  afterward  hear 
it  said  that  we  had  experienced  one  of  the 
roughest  trips  that  had  been  known  for 
years,  on  that  part  of  the  sea.  Then,  too, 
the  fact  that  we  were  traveling  north  made 
the  going  harder  as  we  were  facing  the 
current. 

Before  leaving  home  on  Saturday  we  had 
had  rather  a  hearty  breakfast  as  we  knew 
that  lunch  on  the  boat  would  not  be  served 
until  after  one  o'clock.  We,  however,  had 
to  forego  the  pleasure  of  partaking  of  the 
excellent  luncheon  which  one  will  always 
find  served  on  these  vessels.  Not  only  that, 
but  our  places  were  vacant  at  dinner  and  at 
Sunday  breakfast.  Doubtless,  we  were  not 
much  missed  but  those  delightful  meals  cer- 
tainly were,  and  we  began  to  notice  their 


1  2      With  the  Union  Men 

absence  most  perceptibly  by  noon  on  Sun- 
day, so  when  the  matron  came  to  offer  her 
services,  and  incidentally  her  sympathies  by 
showing  us  the  long  list  of  room  numbers 
whose  occupants  were  in  a  condition  like 
unto  ours, — when  she  came  we  thought  a 
little  lemonade  might  brighten  us  up  some- 
what. We  ordered  two  glasses  with  a  few 
crackers.  A  boy  was  sent  for  them  but 
we  refused  to  accept  them  when  he  returned 
and  presented  also  a  fee  of  fifty  cents.  We 
had  already  paid  three  dollars  for  the  little 
boy's  meals  alone  and  for  which  we  had 
used  not  a  mouthful  of  food  so  we  felt  that 
this  was  adding  insult  to  injury  and  we  con- 
tinued our  miserable  journey  without  even 
this  small  joy. 

But  like  the  summer  sun  after  a  shower 
are  the  effects  of  an  hour  or  two  on  the 
land  following  a  rough  sea  voyage.  So  our 
delightful  train  ride  from  Flavel  to  Port- 
land had  its  wonderful  effect  upon  us  and 
we  were  even  better  for  the  journey  that 
was  past. 

After  spending  a  short  time  in  Portland 


Introduction  1 3 

I  noticed  that  both  labor  and  contractors 
were  more  or  less  restless,  as  to  wages  and 
war  profits.  Also,  in  riding  on  the  train 
from  Portland  to  Seattle  I  noticed  that  hun- 
dreds of  acres  of  forest  timbers  were  care- 
lessly permitted  to  burn  down  right  along 
the  railroad.  I  said  about  that  waste  of 
timber,  that  such  carelessness  should  be  con- 
demned and  not  even  permitted;  for,  in  not 
many  years,  we  will  most  sorely  need  those 
timbers.  Otherwise  the  scenery  between 
those  cities  of  Portland  and  Seattle  is  full 
of  beauty  and  grandeur. 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 


II:  I  Visit  the  Labor  Halls 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 


I  Visit  the  Labor  Halls 

HAVING  arrived  in  the  state  with  its 
thousands  of  acres  of  wheat,  I 
found  that  the  grain  was  green  yet 
and  that  I  must  wait  three  or  four  weeks 
at  the  outside  before  the  real  harvest  would 
commence.  My  wife  and  the  boy  having 
gone  up  to  Stanwood  to  visit  a  friend  there, 
I  busied  myself  visiting  the  labor  halls  and 
the  rooms  of  employment  sharks  to  make 
as  close  a  study  of  the  real  labor  situation 
as  possible. 

I  soon  formed  an  acquaintance  with  sev- 
eral I.  W.  W.  fellows.  One  of  them  sug- 
gested a  plan  by  saying:  ''How  would  you 
like  to  batch  it  with  us  near  the  water 
front?"  That's  right,  Jack,  there  is  an  ex- 
tra cot;  it  is  a  hell  of  a  place  if  you  are  not 
used  to  batching  it.  But  hell !  we  get  along 
fine."    "Yes,  and  a  darn  sight  cheaper  than 


1 8       With  the  Union  Men 

at  the  cheapest  restaurant,"  interrupted 
Dick.       "You    have    your,  own    blankets, 

haven't    you,    Mr. ?"      "J^st    call    me 

Harry,"  I  said.  "No,  I  haven't  any  blan- 
kets," was  my  answer.  "Hell,  Jack,  you 
have  an  extra  blanket  in  your  suitcase,  and 
I  have  an  extra  blanket  that  I  don't  need 
since  it  is  warmer."  It  was  about  five  p.  m. 
and  we  started  for  the  shack,  as  I  had  as" 
sured  them  that  almost  anything  would  do 
for  me,  both  to  toughen  me  up  for  the  har- 
vest and  for  my  health. 

We  stopped  on  our  way  to  purchase  a 
few  chops  and  several  loaves  of  bread.  Jack 
said,  "Things  were  so  d —  dull  last  winter 
that  Dick  and  I  took  to  batching."  As  we 
made  our  way  through  the  crowd  that  was 
coming  from  work  there  was  not  much 
chance  for  conversation.  Before  long  we 
arrived  at  the  shack  right  near  the  water. 
"Harry,  you  will  think  this  is  a  devil  of  a 
place,"  said  one  of  the  boys.  "Just  make 
yourself  at  home  around  here  the  best  you 
can,'  said  Jack  as  he  slapped  his  hat  and 
coat  on  his  cot.     "We  only  pay  a  dollar  a 


Labor  Halls  1 9 

week  for  this  d —  place."  "Yes,  up  town 
it  costs  us  that  for  one  night,  that  is,  for 
two,"  said  Dick.  "Dick,  you  chop  a  little 
wood  while  I  fix  these  chops  for  supper." 
"Wait  till  I  light  my  old  pipe."  As  he 
lighted  his  pipe  he  turned  to  me  and  said, 
"You  smoke  ?"  as  he  offered  me  the  tobacco. 
"No,  I  never  smoke."  "Eh,  you  don't,"  he 
squawked.  "Well,  it  is  a  pretty  darn  bad 
habit,  but  this  here  old  pipe  gives  me  a  lot 
of  comfort,"  he  said,  starting  outside  to 
chop  wood.  Jack  turned  to  me  with  a  chop 
in  his  hand.  "We  don't  pay  a  darn  cent 
for  wood  here, — use  drift  wood."  It  just 
seemed  as  if  these  men  could  not  take  a 
breath  without  swearing. 

The  shack  was  twelve  by  twenty  and  then 
there  was  a  porch  five  feet  wide  partly  en- 
closed with  screen,  gunny  sacks,  and  boards. 
The  water  had  to  be  carried  from  a  pipe  a 
few  rods  away.  The  cooking  utensils  and 
the  furniture  were  all  very  crude.  The 
shack  belonged  to  an  old  lumberjack  who 
had  gone  to  Canada  to  work  in  the  woods. 
He  preferred  renting  it  cheap  to  some  of 


20      With  the  Union  Men 

his  I.  W.  W.  brothers  rather  than  letting  it 
stand  empty. 

Both  Jack  and  Dick  seemed  as  cheerful 
as  they  could  be  until  we  started  to  eat. 
I  sat  on  an  old  rickety  chair, — the  best 
there  was ;  Jack  sat  on  a  soap  box  and  Dick 
sat  on  a  chair  without  a  back.  Our  food 
consisted  of  chops,  fried  potatoes,  coffee  and 
bread.  I  enjoyed  every  bit  of  it  immensely, 
but  the  men  soon  started  to  discuss  the 
bitter  feeling  for  the  capitalist.  Dick  said: 
labor  problems,  and  there  was  a  noticeably 
"One  of  these  days  there  will  be  a  change 
and  then  we'll  all  have  money." 

After  they  had  made  a  number  of  similar 
remarks,  I  asked :  "Is  there  anything  going 
on  nights  since  the  saloons  are  closed?"  "O 
Lord,  yes,"  remarked  Dick.  "They  still 
raise  a  lot  of  h —  here  since  the  saloons 
went."  After  eating  a  good  meal  we  took 
a  stroll  down  town,  listening  to  some  So- 
cialist and  I.  W.  W.  street  meetings.  A 
Socialist  speaker  said  to  his  audience,  speak- 
ing about  war  profits:  "They  can  hardly 
agree  whether  they  want  to  build  wooden 


Labor  Halls  2 1 

ships  or  steel  ships  to  combat  the  subma- 
rines. One  guy  says  there  is  more  money 
in  building  steel  ships  than  in  anything 
else;  then  along  comes  another  guy  and 
says  there  is  more  money  in  wooden  ships 
than  in  steel  vessels ;  and  mind  you,  I  would 
not  be  surprised  if  a  third  guy  will  come 
along  and  tell  the  men  it  is  best  to  build 
cement  ships."  At  this  the  crowd  cheered 
and  laughed. 

Some  fellow  came  along  with  a  bundle 
of  papers.  He  did  not  want  to  sell  them, 
but  was  giving  them  away,  but  he  must 
raise  five  dollars  from  the  crowd  to  cover 
the  cost  of  printing.  The  amount  was 
raised  in  a  few  minutes  and  everybody 
eagerly  grabbed  for  the  papers  and  soon 
all  were  taken  or  distributed  among  the 
crowd. 

It  was  nearly  ten  o'clock  and  we  went 
back  toward  our  shack.  On  our  way  back 
we  heard  several  men  call,  "Extra!  Extra! 
Extra!!"  Jack  said,  "What  in  th^  Sam  hill 
is  the  matter  now?"  Next  we  heard  them 
call  out :    "Woman  slugger  breaks  woman's 


22      With  the  Union  Men 

skull."  We  stopped  and  bought  a  paper 
and  read  the  large  black  print  under  the 
arc  light  about  the  woman  slugger  who  was 
at  large.  "By  dad,  every  woman  ought  to 
carry  a  gun,"  hotly  remarked  Dick. 

I  was  tired  and  enjoyed  a  good  rest  that 
night,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  I  slept  with- 
out any  springs  in  my  bed  and  a  few  gunny 
sacks  only  for  my  pillow.  For  breakfast 
we  had  flapjacks  with  syrup,  an  tgg  apiece, 
and  coffee.  After  breakfast  I  shaved;  Jack 
sewed  a  few  buttons  on  his  clothes,  and 
Dick  washed  his  socks.  Jack  said:  "This 
is  a  h —  of  a  life,  but  what  is  the  use  now- 
adays? It  is  hard  for  a  single  fellow  to 
live  decent.  What  would  I  do  if  I  were  a 
married  man?" 

Soon  Dick  said:  "Harry,  let's  go  to  the 
hall.  In  a  short  time  we  found  ourselves 
in  the  midst  of  a  group  of  union  men,  mostly 
I.  W.  W.  I  eagerly  read  their  signs.  I 
noticed  the  honor  scroll  on  the  wall.  On  it 
were  the  names  of  the  men  it  was  stated 
had  died  for  the  cause  of  the  working  peo- 
ple.    I  also  noticed  that  the  secretary  and 


Labor  Halls  23 

the  rest  of  the  office  force  at  headquarters 
were  all  dressed  in  workingmen's  clothes. 

They  also  showed  me  the  fire  escape 
where  an  I.  W.  W.  member  had  shot  a 
drunken  sailor  in  the  leg.  A  group  of 
sailors  tried  to  come  into  their  hall  to  mo- 
lest those  present  by  breaking  up  furni- 
ture. The  same  thing  had  occurred  pre- 
viously. At  first  the  sailors  tried  to  come 
up  the  steps  into  the  hall  but  the  door  was 
barred.  Then  the  sailors  sought  entrance 
by  the  fire  escape,  and  one  of  the  I.  W.  W. 
members  opened  fire  and  hit  the  sailor, 
About  two  hundred  I.  W.  W.'s  were  ar- 
rested, but  all  were  turned  loose  again. 
Since  then  the  sailors  have  not  interfered. 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 


III:  Longshore  Work 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 


I  Try  My  Hand  at  Longshore  Work 
on  the  Docks 

IN  the  afternoon  we  were  walking  along  the 
waterfront,  when  we  noticed  large  ships 
being  towed  into  the  docks.  A  squeaky- 
voiced  foreman  came  running,  all  excited 
like  a  chicken  without  a  head.  "You  fel- 
lows want  to  work?  Two  large  shiploads 
of  salmon  coming  in  right  now  from  Alaska, 
and  not  a  damn  man  in  sight."  Dick  said 
to  me:  "Do  you  care  to  tackle  her?  It 
may  mean  twenty-four  hours  of  steady 
work,  and  they  work  a  fellow  like  the  devil 
here."  "Sure,  I  will  work,"  said  I.  We 
hurried  into  the  large  shed,  took  off  our 
coats,  and  rolled  up  our  sleeves.  I  heard 
the  foreman  telephone  to  some  of  the  halls 
for  about  twenty  husky  men  to  unload 
salmon. 

Dick  and  I  were  put  to  hauling  low  heavy 


28      With  the  Union  Men 

trucks.  Several  strong  men  would  load  the 
boxes  on  the  trucks  as  fast  as  we  could 
run  them  through  a  door,  not  any  too  wide, 
on  a  large  elevator,  and  as  we  would  return 
we  would  always  take  an  empty  truck  to 
be  filled.  Thus  there  was  not  a  second's 
rest.  Upstairs  the  same  thing  was  being 
repeated  except  that  up  there  the  trucks 
were  not  pulled  by  hand  but  by  an  electric 
car.  So  Dick  and  I  had  the  hardest  job. 
I  was  sweating  like  a  race  horse.  Dick 
said  to  me,  'The  devil  with  this  job  is  that 
you  can  quit  as  many  times  as  you  want  to 
and  possibly  get  on  again,  but  if  you  get 
'canned'  for  not  keeping  up,  the  chances 
are  you  will  never  get  on  again.  So  you 
see  that  is  the  h —  with  this  job."  As  he 
looked  at  me  he  struck  the  side  of  the  door 
with  his  truck  and  a  stack  of  boxes  tumbled 
off,  and  two  or  three  broke  and  the  cans 
started  to  roll  toward  a  hole  in  the  floor. 
"Hey,  you  son  of  a — !  Catch  those  cans 
before  they  fall  into  the  water.  Don't  you 
know  the  company  has  to  pay  for  them?" 
yelled  a  big  coarse   Swede   foreman   from 


Longshore  Work         29 

above.  The  little  foreman  from  the  outside 
came  cursing  to  see  what  was  the  matter. 
"Don't  keep  these  men  waiting  out  here. 
Get  those  loaded  trucks  in  here.''  I  was 
just  wondering  how  long  I  would  be  able  to 
keep  up  with  that  rushing  work.  Dick  was 
used  to  hard  work,  but  I  was  not.  My 
muscles  were  soft  and  tender,  but  I  meant 
to  do  my  best. 

The  big  Swede  foreman  came  down  in 
the  large  elevator  with  the  empty  trucks. 
As  he  looked  outside  and  saw  a  number  of 
trucks  loaded,  he  said:  "Hell,  you  fellows 
can't  get  these  trucks  in  here  as  fast  as 
they  load  'em  on  outside.  I  will  have  to  get 
another  man." 

I  was  just  wondering  if  he  was  going 
to  "can"  me  and  get  a  husky  in  my  place, 
but  I  was  keeping  up  with  Dick  and  had 
not  even  spilled  any  boxes.  In  a  few  min- 
utes the  Swede  returned,  bringing  a  broad- 
shouldered  foreigner.  "Here,  you  help  these 
two  men  haul  in  these  trucks.  It's  too  damn 
hard  for  two  men." 

My  limbs  had  started  to  tremble  under 


30      With  the  Union  Men 

me,  but  now  we  could  haul  the  trucks  just 
a  little  faster  than  the  elevator  man  could 
take  them  up,  so  I  got  a  little  rest  between 
times  occasionally,  and  with  a  nice  cool 
breeze  coming  over  us,  I  was  quite  sure 
I  would  hold  out  until  night.  We  were  al- 
lowed an  hour  for  supper,  and  at  about  ten- 
thirty  p.  M.  the  unloading  of  two  ships  was 
completed.  When  we  got  back  to  the  shack, 
Jack  had  gone  somewhere  up  town.  Dick 
prepared  a  little  lunch,  but  I  was  so  near 
"in"  that  I  lay  down  and  watched  him. 
"Harry,  you  surprised  me  today.  I  thought 
sure  you  would  give  out  for  it  was  all  I 
could  stand,  before  that  other  guy  came  to 
help  us." 

In  the  morning  I  was  so  stiff  and  sore 
that  I  could  hardly  get  out  of  bed.  It  seemed 
that  knots  were  tied  in  the  cords  of  my 
muscles.  That  morning,  having  only  a  few 
blocks  to  walk,  we  were  a  half-hour  early 
for  work.  About  a  dozen  more  arrived 
soon.  I  found  that  nearly  all,  without  ex- 
ception, were  either  members  of  some  union 
or  carried  cards   as   members   of  the   No. 


Longshore  Work         31 

500  I.  W.  W.  Some  even  carried  L  W.  W. 
cards  in  addition  to  their  regular  union 
cards,  giving  as  the  reason  that  it  was  the 
safest  for  each  to  lean  toward  the  strongest 
organization.  A  few  minutes  before  the 
whistle  blew  the  doors  were  opened  and  the 
foremen  arranged  their  groups.  The  re- 
quirements to  be  a  foreman  were,  as  nearly 
as  I  could  observe,  any  man  who  had  been 
there  for  some  time,  if  he  had  an  extra 
large  vocabulary  of  profanity.  Such  a  man 
was  made  boss  over  about  a  dozen  men,  and 
daily  he  would  add  to  his  vocabulary  of  pro- 
fanity. Not  knowing  how  to  handle  men, 
he  would  use  this  method.  And  another 
reason  was,  if  he  did  not  drive  the  men 
with  some  method  he  was  in  danger  of 
losing  his  own  job. 

To  be  driven  all  day  like  a  beast  of  burden 
under  a  heavy  task  of  labor,  and  then  to  be 
chosen  boss  and  drive  others  was  consid- 
ered a  rather  fat  job.  The  boss  did  not 
have  to  work,  and  his  pay  was  a  little  bet- 
ter than  that  of  the  men  who  worked  under 
him.    This,  too,  accounts  largely  for  the  fact 


32      With  the  Union  Men 

that  the  workingmen  are  so  brutal  and  mean 
toward  each  other.  There  is  always  a  task 
master  higher  up,  and  each  boss  has  to  ac- 
complish just  about  so  much  with  his  men 
or  else  he  will  lose  out  and  become  an  under 
dog  again  in  some  group. 

All  that  day  Dick  and  I  trucked  gunny 
sacks,  on  two-wheeled  trucks,  with  handles 
this  time.  The  sacks  had  been  shipped  in 
from  India.  We  had  to  load  them  into 
railroad  cars  for  reshipment  to  the  various 
wheatfields.  They  were  in  bales,  each  bale 
weighing  eight  hundred  pounds.  Two  men 
would  load  the  bales  on  our  trucks,  but  we 
had  to  run  the  two-wheeled  trucks  over 
bumps  up  a  slanting  platform  into  the  cars 
and  then  dump  them  just  so,  and  a  man  in 
the  car  with  a  large  crowbar  would  see  to 
it  that  every  bit  of  space  was  filled.  Two 
layers  were  always  put  in  a  car. 

For  one  man  to  haul  eight  hundred 
pounds  on  a  two-wheeled  truck  was  more 
of  a  beast's  work  than  a  man's,  yet  we  had 
to  do  it  and  we  must  not  be  slow  about  it 
either.     Once  I  hit  a  bump  with  the  wheels 


Longshore  Work         ^^ 

and  off  came  the  large  bale.  It  all  happened 
because  the  things  were  so  heavy  to  handle. 
I  lifted  until  all  seemed  black  before  me, 
yet  I  could  not  get  the  bale  on  the  truck  by 
myself.  I  had  to  call  for  help.  After  that 
I  was  mighty  careful  whenever  I  came  to 
that  place.  But  towards  noon  I  got  so  tired 
that  there  was  not  strength  enough  left  in 
my  arms  to  hold  or  balance  the  eight  hun- 
dred-pound bale  and  push  the  truck  over  a 
bump,  too.  So  after  that  I  tried  to  do  the 
lifting  with  the  strength  of  my  arms  and 
the  pushing  with  my  head.  I  made  the 
rough  place  with  my  load  several  times  all 
right,  when  for  the  third  time  as  I  came 
along,  I  went  a  little  fast  in  order  to  get 
a  good  start,  I  hit  the  rough  place  with 
the  wheels  just  a  little  awkward,  and  flap! 
I  was  jerked  over  the  truck  and  bale  on  the 
floor,  or  rather,  hard  pavement.  Again  I 
had  to  call  for  help.  The  boss  came  along 
and  said,  "Get  a  different  truck;  that  ain't 
worth  a  damn."  I  was  glad  when  five  p.  m. 
came.  I  did  not  care  to  work  overtime, 
not  even  at  seventy-five  cents  per  hour.     I 


34      With  the  Union  Men 

could  see  then  why  men  so  often  refuse  to 
work  overtime  even  for  big  pay. 

The  next  morning,  which  was,  by  the 
way,  was  my  last  on  the  docks,  I  thought 
sure  the  worst  had  come.  A  large  ship- 
load of  tar  barrels  had  arrived  in  the  night. 
The  ship  had  her  own  crew  of  husky  Swedes 
to  unload  the  barrels.  They  hoisted  the 
barrels,  three  at  a  time,  on  the  platform 
with  a  derrick  and  we  had  to  roll  them 
near  the  shed  and  stand  them  up  on  end. 
I  rolled  one  to  the  side  and  then  lifted  for 
all  I  was  worth,  but  the  thing  would  not 
come.  Dick  said,  "There  is  a  trick  to  that, 
give  the  barrel  a  swing,  and  with  the  next 
swing  as  she  goes  up,  put  the  weight  of 
your  body  under  the  end  of  the  barrel,  and 
just  keep  her  going."  I  soon  caught  on 
to  that,  but  to  get  those  heavy  things  in  the 
right  place  so  as  not  to  waste  space  was  still 
another  problem.  Dick  said :  "If  that  darn 
boss  would  not  say  anything  you  could 
roll  them,  and  I  would  stand  them  up."  It 
was  in  a  way  so  much  like  football  that  I 
had  played  years  ago  in  college  that  I  soon 


Longshore  Work         35 

got  on  to  the  whole  thing.  Toward  evening 
I  felt  as  if  I  had  torn  some  of  my  insides 
out  of  place,  and  thought  if  I  could  only 
hold  out  until  evening  I  would  find  out  from 
the  men  all  about  that  place  that  I  still 
wished  to  learn  without  killing  myself. 

Just  then -the  boss  said:  "Hey,  you  fel- 
lows, you  will  have  to  pile  them  barrels  two 
high,  and  on  end,  or  else  we  will  not  have 
room  enough."  Travelers  that  go  to  Eu- 
rope tell  us  how  men  carry  their  trunks 
on  their  backs,  but  if  some  of  these  same 
people  could  see  how  men  have  to  lift  and 
tug  right  at  home,  with  all  our  modern  ma- 
chinery, they  would  have  no  story  at  all 
to  tell. 

As  I  helped  a  Swede  who  leaned  over 
the  boat  to  tighten  up  a  rope,  he  said  in 
a  low  voice  so  only  a  few  of  us  could  hear 
it:  "Say,  you  fellows  don't  want  to  ship  to 
Alaska  now,  for  there  is  a  hell  of  a  big 
strike  on  up  there.  We  met  some  fellows 
that  came  from  there."  "And  a  big  strike 
on  in  Canada,  too,  among  the  lumbermen," 
another  replied. 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 


IV.  Seattle  and  Tacoma 
Car  Stride 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 


The  Tacoma  and  Seattle 
Street  Car  Stride 

AFTER  going  around  with  open  ears 
for  several  weeks,  to  hear  what  the 
^  men  were  talking  about  in  labor 
halls,  at  the  Government  employment  room 
near  First  Street,  and  in  the  Central  City- 
employment  rooms,  as  well  as  down  town 
where  labor  leaders  and  would-be  labor 
leaders  and  radicals  held  their  street  meet- 
ings, I  noticed  that  a  rumor  was  going 
around  among  the  men  that  there  was  an 
increasing  evidence  of  an  imminent  street 
car  strike  in  Tacoma. 

A  few  more  days  and  the  papers  took 
it  up  and  the  strike  was  called,  for  the 
purpose  of  gaining  an  increase  of  wages. 
The  company  refused  to  grant  the  increase 
and  was  unwilling  to  recognize  the  union, 
and  further  made  threats  that  if  the  men 
did  not  return  to  work  under  old  conditions 


40      With  the  Union  Men 

the  company  would  send  for  strike-breakers. 
This  created  a  great  deal  of  sympathy  in 
Seattle  among  the  imion  men,  and  even 
among  the  I.  W.  W.,  and  the  new  union 
called  the  Shingle  Weavers'  Union.  But 
the  company  would  not  budge.  All  labor 
being  well  organized  in  Seattle,  the  street 
car  men  of  the  city  saw  their  chance  to 
show  their  sympathy  for  the  Tacoma  men 
and  at  the  same  time  the  opportunity  was 
open  for  them  to  win  their  much-needed 
demands.  A  rapid  canvass  was  made  in 
Seattle,  which  proved  that  ninety  per  cent 
of  the  car  men  were  married  men  and  the 
average  salary  was  but  sixty  dollars  per 
month. 

A  meeting  of  the  car  men  called  at  the 
labor  hall,  and  the  calling  of  a  strike  was 
the  result.  Now  the  storm  had  begun.  The 
car  company  refused  to  do  anything  what- 
ever, but  sent  for  eastern  strike-breakers. 
In  the  meantime  several  scabs  tried  to  run 
the  cars  without  police  protection,  which 
they  could  not  get  at  this  time,  as  the  police- 
men refused  to  ride  with  the  scabs. 


Street  Car  Stride         4 1 

The  first  man  that  tried  to  run  a  car 
was  said  to  be  a  fifty-thousand-dollar  stock- 
holder in  the  company.  The  strikers  fixed 
him  up  in  great  shape  and  sent  him  to  the 
hospital  and  the  car  was  taken  back  to  the 
barns. 

Strike-breakers  from  the  East  were  roll- 
ing in  by  the  trainload.  The  street  car  barns 
were  hurriedly  transformed  into  a  regular 
army  fort.  Beds,  food,  etc.,  were  hauled 
to  the  barns  for  several  thousand  strike- 
breakers. Then  the  barns  were  guarded  by 
gunmen.  This  looked  rather  discouraging 
at  first  for  the  car  men.  So  a  great  demon- 
strative parade  was  arranged  for.  Every- 
thing was  well  arranged.  A  fine  brass  band 
headed  the  procession.  The  men  had  on 
their  uniforms.  They  started  out  four 
abreast,  the  leader  bearing  a  large  U.  S. 
flag.  Women  and  children  stood  and  handed 
the  men  flowers  as  they  passed.  A  number 
of  boys  and  girls  also  marched  beside  their 
fathers  in  the  parade. 

A  large  painted  sign  was  carried  by  sev- 
eral   men    as    they    marched    through    the 


42      With  the  Union  Men 

streets  which  read,  "We  are  patriotic,  but 
we  need  justice  as  well  as  the  people  in 
France."  Other  banners  of  similar  nature 
were  carried  in  the  parade.  After  the 
parade  a  rousing  speech  was  made  in  front 
of  the  labor  hall.  The  speaker  ended  his 
speech  to  several  thousand  people  by  say- 
ing: "God  help  us  that  no  one  but  union 
men  will  start  these  cars."  A  mighty  roar 
of  shouting  and  the  clapping  of  hands  went 
up  from  the  crowd. 

The  strike-breakers  were  a  fierce  looking 
bunch ;  possibly  most  of  them  were  carrying 
guns.  Some  of  these  rough-looking  cus- 
tomers started  to  run  several  cars  one  day, 
and  as  soon  as  they  got  to  the  crowded 
streets,  bricks  came  from  every  direction, 
even  from  second  and  third-story  windows. 
The  car  windows  were  broken,  and  the  men 
injured  sufficiently  to  make  them  willing  to 
take  the  cars  back  to  the  car  barns. 

The  Stone  and  Webster  Company  asked 
protection  of  life  and  property.  But  the 
police  did  not  want  to  risk  their  lives  to 
protect  an  army  of  undesirable  men  whose 


Street  Car  Strike         43 

business  it  was  to  scab  for  good  pay  and 
then  go  elsewhere  to  do  the  same  thing. 

When  the  Chief  of  PoHce  asked  several 
men  to  ride  with  the  strike-breakers  or  quit, 
they  did  quit;  but  the  whole  police  depart- 
ment seemed  on  a  verge  of  going  on  a 
strike,  too,  so  the  scabs  had  to  remain  at 
the  car  barns.  When  any  of  them  were 
caught  on  the  street  they  were  arrested  and 
thrown  in  jail  for  carrying  concealed 
weapons.  The  whole  thing  was  wild  West 
again  for  sure. 

The  street  meetings  of  the  I.  W.  W.  and 
Socialists  continued  every  night.  Many 
hard  things  were  said  against  the  company 
that  had  made  its  silver  and  gold  in  these 
western  cities  and  now  tried  to  enslave  its 
employees.  Mayor  Gill  himself  was  with  the 
street  car  men.  All  newly  made  rules 
against  jitneys  were  suspended  and  every- 
body was  permitted  to  haul  passengers.  The 
larger  firms,  such  as  Sears,  Roebuck  &  Co., 
and  many  others  hauled  their  own  help  in 
private  trucks  to  and  from  work. 

The  fierce  strike-breakers  had  to  be  sent 


44      IVith  the  Union  Men 

back  East  from  where  they  came.  And  the 
street  car  company  had  to  settle  with  its 
employees. 

This  was  another  evidence  for  the  whole 
world,  what  a  union  of  men,  whether  I.  W. 
W.  or  something  else,  can  do,  if  all  are 
united  for  one  definite  cause.  While  every- 
thing was  yet  greatly  disturbed  and  excited 
about  the  street  car  strike,  the  Wells  Fargo 
Express  men  went  on  a  strike  for 
higher  wages.  When  the  first  scab  started 
out  with  a  team,  a  large  number  of  men 
ran  into  stores  and  purchased  dozens  of 
eggs.  Then,  while  several  dray  wagons 
blocked  the  street  for  the  scab,  the  men 
covered  him  with  eggs;  the  team  was  left 
in  the  street  and  Mr.  Scab  ran  for  safety. 
However,  that  demonstration  was  very 
small  compared  to  the  car  strike. 

I  met  a  number  of  lumberjacks,  who  were 
almost  without  exception  I.  W.  W.  men. 
They  were  bitterly  complaining  that  they 
had  to  work  ten  hours,  when  even  Presi- 
dent Wilson  had  said  in  his  speeches  that 
eight    hours    were    enough.      I    said    right 


Street  Car  Stride         45 

then,  "These  lumber  companies  better  give 
these  men  their  eight  hours  and  have  peace ; 
if  not,  the  Government  contracts  are  going 
to  be  delayed  and  the  shipbuilding  industry 
will  be  crippled."  But  most  of  the  com- 
panies would  not  listen  and  had  no  notion 
of  giving  the  men  the  eight-hour  day. 

During  the  meantime  I  was  still  batch- 
ing with  the  two  I.  W.  W.  men  in  the  shack, 
for  I  was  gaining  knowledge  faster  about 
real  world  problems  and  human  nature  than 
I  had  years  ago  in  the  university. 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 


V.    The  Red  Side 
of  the  City 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 


The  Red  Side  of  the  Cify 

ONE  morning  a  man,  who  had  just 
returned  from  Dayton  the  night  be- 
fore, came  to  our  shanty  just  as  we 
were  eating  breakfast.  He  had  some  time 
ago  worked  for  one  of  the  warehouses  on 
the  waterfront.  He  wished  to  go  and  see 
if  there  was  an  opening,  and  asked  us  to 
go  with  him.  He  and  Dick  walked  ahead. 
When  we  came  to  a  large  apartment  house, 
they  turned  to  go  in  and  asked  Jack  and 
myself  to  come  along.  They  walked  up- 
stairs and  we  followed.  When  we  got  to 
a  certain  door,  the  new  fellow  knocked.  A 
lady  opened  the  door  and  asked  us  in.  I 
was  still  under  the  impression  that  they 
had  come  to  see  a  friend  of  Ed's.  But  I 
soon  learned  they  did  not  want  to  see  any 
one,  but  wanted  to  get  a  drink. 

The   lady   said,   "Boys,   do   you   want   a 


50      With  the  Union  Men 

drink?"  "Yes,"  said  Ed.  "Got  some  good 
stuff?"  "You  bet,  the  best  whiskey  you 
can  get  anywhere."  I  said  to  myself,  "What 
am  I  into?  Isn't  Washington  bone  dry?" 
She  poured  just  about  a  swallow  into  each 
glass  for  four.  I  refused  to  take  the  glass 
intended  for  me,  so  the  man  staying  with 
her  drank  it.  Then  she  offered  me  a  cigar- 
ette, which  I  also  refused  by  saying,  'I 
never  use  tobacco."  But  she  gave  one  to 
each  of  the  other  men. 

As  she  lighted  her  cigarette,  Dick  said: 
"How  is  the  whiskey  sale  now?"  "Well, 
we  clear  about  forty  dollars  a  day  now," 
she  said.  When  we  got  on  the  sidewalk 
again  I  asked  Dick  how  they  could  carry 
on  the  liquor  sale  in  an  apartment  house 
and  not  get  caught.  "Well,"  said  Dick, 
"they  pay  a  little  more  rent  than  the  rest, 
and  tip  the  lady  that  takes  care  of  the 
rooms." 

That  evening  Ed  brought  a  friend  of  his 
over  who  had  just  returned  from  a  trip 
with  a  group  of  moonshiners,  of  which  he 
had  been  a  member.     Ed's  friend  told  us 


The  Red  Side  5 1 

how  several  weeks  ago  a  number  of  moon- 
shiners had  bought  a  simple  outfit  to  go  out 
into  the  woods  and  manufacture  their  own 
whiskey.  They  also  took  guns  and  dogs; 
not  for  use,  but  for  an  excuse  to  be  out 
hunting  if  any  one  should  get  on  their 
trail.  They  had  not  gone  far  into  the  woods 
when  a  game  warden  started  to  follow  them. 
They  just  noticed  him  in  time  so  as  not  to 
shoot  a  shot,  nor  did  they  turn  their  dogs 
loose.  They  kept  going  and  he  kept  on  fol- 
lowing. But  they  would  not  shoot  at  any- 
thing nor  let  the  dogs  loose.  This  was 
kept  up  for  three  days.  Toward  evening 
when  the  men  as  usual  fixed  for  a  night's 
camp,  they  prepared  a  good  mess  to  eat. 
But  they  were  almost  sure  to  kill  that  war- 
den, because  he  followed  them  when  they 
did  not  hunt. 

Just  as  they  sat  down  to  eat,  who  should 
come  to  their  camp  but  this  game  warden 
who  had  been  on  their  trail  all  this  time. 
He  was  nearly  starved  and  now  begged 
for  something  to  eat,  but  they  were  so  angry 
at  him  that  they  cursed  him  and  refused 


52      With  the  Union  Men 

to  give  him  a  bite.  He  left  them  and  never 
returned,  so  they  stayed  and  made  enough 
whiskey  for  a  small  fortune.  I  was  also 
told  that  quite  a  number  of  moonshiners 
were  manufacturing  the  stuff  on  a  small 
scale  right  in  the  city. 

I  also  got  acquainted  with  a  group  of 
generous  drinkers,  who  said  they  got 
whiskey  easily  enough,  but  that  it  was  ex- 
pensive. They  said:  "In  speaking  of 
whiskey  among  ourselves  we  call  it  white 
mule.  We  claim  we  are  painters  when  we 
wish  to  buy  more  and  tell  the  man  who  has 
the  permit  to  sell  it,  that  we  wish  to  slack 
paint  with  it." 

One  day  Dick  wished  to  get  a  bottle  of 
white  mule,  so  he  signed  up  for  it,  and 
stated  that  it  was  to  slack  paint.  In  a  little 
while  several  fellows  sent  him  after  some 
more.  The  clerk  said:  "Say,  weren't  you 
in  here  about  two  hours  ago?"  "Yes,"  re- 
plied Dick,  "but  I  want  to  go  out  of  town 
early  tomorrow  morning  to  paint  a  man's 
house  and  you  will  not  be  open  yet  and  I 
will  not  have  enough  to  slack  my  paint." 


The  Red  Side  53 

The  clerk  sold  him  the  second  bottle  of 
whiskey  without  asking  Dick  to  sign  for 
the  second.  Dick  said,  "He  knocked  down 
that  second  bottle,  but  I  don't  blame  him 
for  it.  He  has  to  work  seven  days  out  of 
the  week,  so  he  needs  to  make  a  little 
extra." 

In  a  nearby  shack  from  where  we 
batched  it,  an  old  moonshiner  from  the 
South  offered  to  teach  two  young  fellows 
how  to  make  whiskey.  It  was  very  simple. 
They  got  their  tube,  copper  kettle,  corn,  and 
went  at  it.  In  about  a  week  there  was  a 
large  enough  batch  to  make  a  large  bucket 
of  the  liquor.  On  Sunday  afternoon  when 
one  of  the  young  fellows  was  gone,  the  old 
southerner  came  along  to  examine  the  batch. 
He  said  to  the  other  fellow,  "Let's  have  a 
little."  So  they  started  to  drink.  "It  makes 
good  beer  right  now,"  said  the  old  fellow. 
And  they  drank  up  the  whole  business  until 
there  was  nothing  left  to  turn  into  whiskey. 
When  Xht  young  fellow  returned  and  saw 
what  had  happened  while  he  was  gone  he 
was  verv  much  excited  over   the   incident. 


54      With  the  Union  Men 

They  expected  to  make  a  hundred  dollars 
a  day  with  their  little  plant;  however,  they 
expected  to  get  a  number  of  kettles  more. 
I  left  the  community  too  soon  to  learn  their 
final  outcome  in  the  whiskey  business. 

I  also  visited  the  down-town  dance  halls 
with  a  number  of  I.  W.  W.  A  number  of 
old  saloons  were  turned  into  dance  halls. 
Most  halls  were  large.  About  half  of  the 
floor  space  was  fenced  off  for  dancing. 
Over  head  was  a  kind  of  balcony  for  a 
small  orchestra.  The  other  half  of  the 
floor  space  was  for  the  public  to  stand  and 
look  on,  of  which  there  was  always  a  large 
crowd. 

A  dozen  or  more  girls  were  hired  by  the 
management  to  dance  on  a  commission. 
When  the  music  would  commence  the  girls 
would  go  into  the  crowd  and  beg  the  men 
to  dance  with  them.  There  was  a  certain 
fee  for  each  dance,  of  which  fee  the  girl 
received  one-half.  After  the  dance  the  girl 
and  her  partner  would  walk  up  to  the  bar 
and  buy  a  soft  drink,  for  which  the  partner 
paid.     If  she  could  get  him  to  dance  a  long 


The  Red  Side  55 

time  with  her,  she  was  making  her  money 
for  each  dance  and  did  not  have  to  ask 
any  one  for  a  while,  but  as  soon  as  he  did 
not  care  to  dance  any  longer,  she  had  to 
go  and  rustle  for  another  partner.  Besides 
a  commission  the  girls  would  get  tips  from 
fellows.  In  that  way  they  would  make  sev- 
eral dollars  a  night. 

There  were  usually  two  men  who  would 
run  a  hall;  one  to  call  out  the  dances,  and 
one  to  sell  the  soft  drinks.  ''Next  will  be 
a  turkey  trot,"  was  one  of  the  favorites  that 
the  men  would  call  out.  The  orchestra  was 
of  very  poor  quality,  because  it  was  of  the 
cheapest  that  could  be  procured.  The  music 
was  all  raggy. 

The  men  who  looked  on  were  anybody 
and  everybody.  Very  many  were  men  in 
overalls  and  high-top  boots,  who  would  not 
be  caught  in  an  uptown  dance  hall.  Some 
were  half  drunk  and  could  not  dance,  but 
would  just  walk  and  keep  step  to  the  music. 
The  girls  did  not  introduce  themselves,  nor 
did  they  ask  a  fellow's  name.  Just  from  a 
business  standpoint  a  girl  would  come  up 


56      With  the  Union  Men 

to  a  man  and  ask  him  if  he  would  dance 
with  her. 

Many  soldiers  and  sailors,  too,  came  to 
these  dance  halls.  Some  were  about  half 
intoxicated  and  there  took  their  first  lesson 
in  dancing.  I  did  feel  sorry  for  the  poor 
girls,  as  so  many  men  would  step  on  their 
toes  and  yet  they  must  be  pleasant.  The 
ages  of  the  girls  were  from  sixteen  to  thirty- 
five.  The  girls  were  neat-looking  and  good 
dancers.  As  far  as  the  men  were  concerned, 
everybody  had  a  right  to  dance,  well-dressed 
or  in  overalls,  whether  sober  or  drunk.  As 
to  the  character  of  the  girls,  there  were  both 
good  and  bad. 

A  striking  feature  was  to  see  so  many 
Japanese  women  barbers  in  the  down-town 
district.  I  was  told  on  good  authority  that 
not  all  of  these  women  are  of  good  charac- 
ter, some  of  them  making  quite  as  much 
from  the  immoral  or  night  life,  as  they  do 
at  their  barber  trade.  These  Japanese 
women  barbers  are  quick  at  their  trade,  and 
have  a  large  patronage  among  white  men. 

There  are  some  things  we  would  rather 


The  Red  Side  57 

omit;  at  the  same  time  people  who  are  so 
wilHng  to  give  up  their  country  homes  when 
things  do  not  go  any  too  smoothly,  and 
come  to  the  city  to  work  for  wages,  or  to 
go  into  a  small  business,  are  exposing  their 
sons  to  great  dangers  and  temptations,  for 
lewd  women  in  certain  streets  ply  their 
trade  by  day  and  night,  by  sitting  at  the 
second-story  windows  and  trying  to  coax 
every  man  and  boy  that  they  think  could 
be  roped  in.  The  thing  was  so  bad  that 
Uncle  Sam's  officers  were  afraid  to  have  the 
soldiers  in  the  city,  and  even  forbade  sol- 
diers going  to  the  city  unless  the  city  would 
clean  up  some  of  these  evils. 

So  degrading  things  are  that  black  men 
will  be  found  with  white  women  of  the 
night  life,  just  because  the  black  men  are 
willing  to  pay  larger  sums  for  that  privi- 
lege. On  the  other  hand,  many  white  men 
are  found  to  patronize  black  women  of  the 
night  life.  To  use  their  own  words,  "It 
costs  them  less." 

The  public  should  also  know  that  this 
night  life  is  not  only  carried  on  by  some 


58      With  the  Union  Men 

so-called  poor  trash  down  town,  but  also 
in  the  better  districts  of  the  city,  under  a 
different  cover  and  system.  There  was  one 
large  building,  beautifully  built  and  clean 
in  appearance  in  every  way  from  without. 
It  had  a  sign,  "Ladies'  Grill,"  and  was  a 
hotbed  for  lewd  women.  There  was  a  large 
hall  with  small  tables  and  chairs.  A  large 
number  of  most  elegantly  dressed  women 
would  sit  at  these  tables  and  wait  for  men 
to  come  in.  As  soon  as  a  man  would  come 
in,  the  women  who  did  not  have  partners 
would  wink  at  him.  And  it  was  up  to  him 
to  choose  at  which  table  he  wanted  to  sit. 
As  soon  as  he  would  sit  down  by  a  woman 
a  waiter  would  come  and  ask  what  they 
wished  to  drink.  The  man  would  order 
some  soft  drinks  for  himself  and  the  strange 
woman.  After  that  she  would  get  up  and 
ask  him  to  follow  her  at  a  distance  to  some 
hotel,  for  they  would  not  run  the  risk  of 
being  picked  up  by  the  police.  The  hotel 
keepers  would  not  run  any  chances,  so  the 
man  and  the  strange  woman  had  to  register 
as  man  and  wife. 


The  Red  Side  59 

There  was  another  place  in  a  very  re- 
spectable part  of  the  city  which  was  vis- 
ited. In  order  not  to  be  noticed  as  to  our 
purpose,  I  was  accompanied  by  my  sister- 
in-law.  We  descended  a  beautiful  white 
marble  stairway  which  led  directly  from  the 
sidewalk.  The  entrance  was  much  the  same 
as  one  often  sees  leading  to  first-class  bar- 
ber shops  in  many  large  cities.  About  two- 
thirds  of  the  way  down  the  steps  turned  to 
the  right  and  we  entered  a  large,  clean, 
beautifully  furnished  and  well-lighted  room. 
The  floor  space  was  really  over-filled  with 
small  round  tables,  each  covered  with  a 
dainty  white  cloth.  At  the  farther  end  of 
the  room  an  open  space  was  reserved  for 
the  entertainers,  who  were  three  in  number. 
They  were  elegantly  and  tastily  gowned  and 
took  turns  in  stepping  out  a  distance  from 
a  sweet- toned  piano  to  sing  rag-time  songs, 
both  the  words  and  the  music  of  which  were 
of  variable  quality.  One  of  the  three  was 
noticeably  of  a  weak  character,  but  of  the 
other  two  one  was  constantly  wondering 
how,  in  the  name  of  all  that  is  good,  they 


60      IVith  the  Union  Men 

could  possibly  bring  themselves  to  such  a 
level.  The  words  of  the  song,  the  eyes  and 
the  movements  of  the  singer  were  all 
directed  to  the  end  of  making  the  richest 
catch  of  the  night,  for  it  was  wholly  ap- 
parent that  these  performers  were  the  mas- 
ters of  the  trade  and  most  certainly  intended 
to  reserve  the  owners  of  the  fattest  purses 
for  themselves. 

At  this  place,  as  at  the  other,  supposedly 
"soft"  drinks  were  served,  for  which  fifty 
per  cent  above  the  usual  price  was  charged; 
judging  from  the  price  of  the  grape  juice 
which  we  chose  as  it  appeared  to  be  the 
''softest"  drink  offered.  When  we  entered 
the  place  there  were  a  number  of  men  sit- 
ting, each  at  a  separate  table,  each  also  ap- 
parently pretending  to  wait  for  nothing. 

Soon  a  fairly  well-dressed  woman  comes 
tripping  down  the  stairs,  also  pretending 
no  purpose  whatever.  With  a  quick  glance 
over  the  available  field  she  makes  her  way 
to  a  certain  spot,  seats  herself  and  with  her 
eyes  motions  a  man  to  her  side,  who  gives 
an  order  for  her,   after  which  they  leave, 


The  Red  Side  61 


sometimes  together  and  sometimes  one 
about  two  minutes  before  the  other.  One 
such  couple  we  passed  the  next  morning 
near  noon  when  they  were  apparently  going 
out  to  breakfast. 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 


VI.    The  Lumber  Strike 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 


The  I,  W.  W.  Lumber  Strike 

UP  to  last  summer  the  lumberjacks 
were  poorly  organized.  But  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  spring  the  I.  W. 
W.  men  went  to  work  in  these  camps  all 
through  the  western  lumber  industry  and 
got  the  men  to  join  their  union.  And  as 
it  happened,  nearly  every  man  did  join. 
After  being  well  organized  and  seeing  how 
lumber  companies  were  enriching  them- 
selves from  the  labor  of  the  lumberjacks, 
the  union  men  thought  it  a  good  time  to 
demand  some  of  their  rights. 

The  first  request  that  the  union  men  peti- 
tioned for  was  an  eight-hour  day.  But  most 
of  the  lumber  companies  sternly  refused  this 
very  reasonable  request.  However,  a  few 
camps  offered  to  work  their  men  eight  hours 
only.  For  this  scheme  the  lumberjacks  were 
too  wise.    Those  few  camps  that  were  will- 


66      With  the  Union  Men 

ing  to  give  the  eight-hour  day  employed  but 
a  small  percentage  of  the  men,  whereas,  of 
course,  all  should  have  the  benefit  of  the 
eight-hour  day. 

Eight  hours  a  day  is  long  enough  for 
the  men  that  work  in  these  camps.  The 
lumber  industry  is  not  like  the  harvest  field 
or  the  fruit  season.  The  lumberjack's  job 
is  a  steady  grind  the  whole  year  round.  And 
if  he  is  forced  to  work  more  than  eight 
hours  he  becomes  dull  and  brute-like.  Even 
now  many  of  them  are  like  machines  or 
working  horses.  At  ten  hours  a  day  there 
is  not  enough  time  to  think,  read,  or  to  do 
anything  constructive.  And  consequently 
the  men  can't  save  money,  nor  work  up, 
but  be  industrial  slaves. 

The  second  request  that  the  lumberjacks 
put  to  the  cold-hearted  lumber  companies  or 
employers  was  that  of  cleaner  and  better 
living  accommodations.  This  just  request 
was  also  turned  down.  The  employees  said : 
"Why  should  the  patriotism  of  the  em- 
ployers consist  of  making  millions  from  war 
contracts  when  at  the  same  time  they  were 


The  Lumber  Stril^e       67 

keeping  their  men  in  slavery?  Why  not 
have  a  Httle  justice  and  democracy  in  the 
lumber  industry?" 

Seeing  no  other  way  but  to  strike  for 
their  just  requests,  and  at  the  same  time 
knowing  the  strength  of  their  organization, 
one  camp  after  another  went  on  strike.  My, 
how  those  wobblers  did  roll  into  the  larger 
cities.  Telephone  and  telegraph  messages 
were  kept  from  those  camps  where  the  lum- 
berjacks did  not  know  that  a  strike  had 
been  called.  Guards  were  even  thrown 
around  the  camps  to  keep  men  away  who 
wished  to  notify  the  men  who  intended  to 
strike,  who  were  waiting  for  orders  when 
all  were  to  strike. 

In  one  camp  the  guards  were  outwitted 
by  a  union  man  by  night.  The  lumberjacks 
were  notified  at  twelve  o'clock  at  night  that 
a  strike  was  on;  all  demanded  their  checks 
at  that  midnight  hour  and  before  morning 
the  men  had  all  deserted  the  camp  and  were 
on  their  way  to  the  city. 

Train  after  train  brought  the  men  from 
the  camps  until  the  city  literall}^  swarmed 


68      With  the  Union  Men 

with  lumberjacks.  It  was  an  easy  matter 
to  call  three  thousand  men  together  either 
for  a  street  meeting  or  a  meeting  in  some 
hall. 

That  strike  in  less  than  two  weeks'  time 
afifected  the  whole  lumber  industry  on  the 
Pacific  Slope.  Shipbuilding  was  hampered 
tremendously,  and  to  get  the  right  kind  of 
wood  for  aeroplanes  was  simply  out  of  the 
question  as  long  as  the  strike  was  in  full 
swing.  Some  employers  tried  for  a  time 
to  get  non-union  men,  through  the  employ- 
ment sharks,  to  take  the  places  of  the  strik- 
ers. However,  the  non-union  men  who 
were  looking  for  work  were  put  wise  to  the 
employers'  tricks  and  would  not  accept  the 
places  vacated  by  the  strikers. 

Then  the  employers  hoped  that  the  men 
would  be  starved  out  in  a  short  time,  and 
then  must  go  back  to  their  old  jobs  again. 
But  this  time  the  men  did  not  spend  their 
hard-earned  purses  as  they  had  done  there- 
tofore, for  there  wasn't  the  saloonman  with 
his  money-traps  when  the  men  came  in  from 
the  camps.    One  group  of  twenty  men  were 


The  Lumber  Stride       69 

arrested  as  vagrants,  but  when  the  judge 
was  about  to  give  them  a  fine  of  thirty  days 
in  jail  he  discovered  that  this  group  of  men 
had  over  three  thousand  dollars  of  wages 
in  their  pockets,  so  they  were  turned  loose 
without  a  charge  against  them.  A  large 
number  of  the  men  opened  bank  accounts, 
in  order  that  their  money  might  last  just 
as  long  as  possible  to  win  the  strike. 

The  union  men  or  lumberjacks  were  not 
able  to  get  their  side  of  the  story  into  the 
daily  press,  at  least  not  sufficient  mention 
to  get  justice,  yet  they  had  a  way  to  inform 
their  own  men  by  posting  notices  and  news 
on  the  walls  of  their  halls.  Thus  the  lum- 
berjacks were  well  informed  as  to  what 
was  going  on,  although  the  public  was  kept 
ignorant. 

Several  hundred  soldiers  were  sent  into 
the  woods  to  get  out  the  timbers  for  air- 
plane wood,  but  this  work  was  not  enough 
to  even  make  an  impression  in  that  huge 
industry.  When  the  Government  finally 
threatened  to  take  over  the  lumber  industry, 


70      With  the  Union  Men 

the  employers  were  not  slow  in  trying  to 
come  to  some  agreement  with  the  men. 

If  you  think  there  are  no  women  I.  W.  W. 
you  are  mistaken.  I  visited  an  I.  W.  W. 
meeting  one  Sunday  night  on  Seventh  and 
Union  in  Seattle,  where  Kate  Saddler  kept 
over  three  thousand  wobblies  spellbound  for 
three  hours  with  her  logical  arguments  in 
pleading  with  the  men  to  be  serious  and 
faithful  in  getting  better  conditions  for 
themselves  and  their  families.  She  also 
pleaded  for  a  higher  standard  of  intelligence 
among  laboring  men. 

There  are  others  of  the  feminine  sex  who 
do  not  lecture,  but  write  articles  for  such 
papers  as  will  print  what  they  write  for 
the  cause  or  the  union.  The  I.  W.  W.'s 
have  their  own  songs,  as  well  as  any  other 
prominent  organization,  whose  meetings  are 
somewhat  patterned  after  the  church  ser- 
vice. The  songs  are  gotten  up  by  I.  W.  W. 
men  and  women,  and  are  sung  at  large 
gatherings.  As  to  the  real  worth  of  the 
words  or  the  tunes  of  the  songs,  I  shall  not 
attempt  to  give  my  honest  opinion. 


The  Lumber  Stride        7 1 

Before  I  go  on  to  the  next  chapter  I  shall 
mention  the  relations  of  the  lumberjacks  and 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Now,  I  am  very  loath  to 
criticise  any  form  of  work  of  this  organiza- 
tion. Yet  in  some  movements  or  branches 
of  the  work  there  is  a  lack  of  wisdom  or 
adequate  knowledge  on  the  part  of  some 
leaders  who  prosecute  that  particular  phase 
of  good  work.  For  instance,  the  library 
management,  in  some  camps,  has  rather  dis- 
gusted the  lumberjacks  with  our  larger  Y. 
M.  C.  A.  when  it  should  have  won  favor. 

A  number  of  poorly  arranged  books  were 
placed  in  a  shack  in  some  camp.  It  was 
called  a  library,  and  according  to  the  state- 
ments of  the  men  who  had  been  there  for 
a  long  time,  each  man  was  to  pay  a  dollar 
a  month  into  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  which  was 
to  go  to  headquarters.  In  some  instances, 
at  least  for  a  time,  the  employers  were  asked 
to  take  a  dollar  a  month  out  of  the  wages 
of  each  man  for  the  Association.  This  was 
all  wrong.  The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  could  have 
placed  a  man  for  full  time,  in  charge  of  two 
or  three  camps,  to  look  after  the  interests 


72      With  the  Union  Men 

of  the  men,  trying  to  find  out  what  they 
like  to  read  and  get  it  for  them,  and  fur- 
nishing shower  baths  and  soap,  which  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  could  get  at  wholesale  prices, 
as  the  camps  did  not  furnish  these  things. 
The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  could  have  a  room  where 
a  lumberjack  might  leave  his  Sunday  suit 
of  clothes.  As  it  is,  if  he  keeps  it  around 
his  bunk,  it  is  stolen.  Some  men  make  it 
a  business  to  go  around  to  the  camps  and 
take  clothes  and  other  things  if  they  are  left 
in  or  near  the  bunks.  Money  or  valuable 
papers  is  about  all  that  the  men  can  leave 
at  the  employer's  office  in  the  camp. 

The  lumberjack  should  know  that  none 
of  his  dues  go  to  headquarters,  but  rather 
that  the  central  association  is  putting  some 
money  into  the  camp  for  his  benefit.  For 
the  lumberjack,  as  a  rule,  is  not  any  too 
religious.  If  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  would  meet 
some  of  his  needs  when  he  is  lonely  in  the 
woods,  he  would  likely  make  the  Association 
rooms  his  headquarters  when  he  comes  to 
the  city. 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men^ 


VII:  I  Ride  Hobo  St^le 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 


I  Ride  Hobo  Sfyle 

HAVING  noticed  a  large  sign  for  sev- 
eral weeks  in  front  of  an  employ- 
ment shark's  office,  I  decided  to  in- 
vestigate it,  too.  "Laborers  Wanted,"  in 
large  letters;  then  the  wages  were  given: 
"Fare  Free  to  B.  C.  We  ship  every  day 
at  9:30  p.  m."  I  noticed  that  a  large  num- 
ber of  men  were  signing  up  for  those  jobs. 
I  went  back  to  the  office  the  next  day,  but 
to  my  surprise  the  hall  was  almost  empty. 
Men  would  read  the  signs  both  outside  and 
inside  and  then  walk  away.  I  stepped  up 
to  a  man  who  was  standing  there,  as  I  pre- 
sumed for  a  purpose.  I  said  to  him :  "Why 
is  it  that  no  one  seems  to  sign  up  today 
to  ship  to  Canada?"  "O,  hell!  there  is  a 
strike  where  they  have  been  shipping  to, 
and  as  soon  as  word  came  that  our  mem- 
bers were  to  be  used  as  scabs,  they  refused 


76      With  the  Union  Men 

to  sign  up  any  longer."  ''O!  I  did  not 
know  there  was  a  strike  in  B.  C,"  said  I. 
"O  God,  yes,"  said  the  man;  ''the  lumber 
in  B.  C.  is  shot  clean  to  h —  until  they  give 
the  men  better  wages,  and  they  will  have 
to,  so  that's  all  there's  to  it." 

This  shipping  business  excited  my  curi- 
osity. I  prowled  around  there  for  the  next 
few  days,  listening  to  the  stories  of  the 
union  men,  and  asking  them  questions  on 
subjects  that  had  to  do  with  the  labor  prob- 
lem. One  morning  I  noticed  that  the  em- 
ployment sharks  had  changed  their  sign. 
There  were  many  other  employment  offices 
in  connection  with  pool  halls  or  restaurants. 
In  some  old  saloon  building  the  old  booze 
boss  was  now  selling  soft  drinks  and  selling 
jobs  on  a  commission. 

The  new  signs  read,  "Laborers  Wanted 
for  Montana."  Just  what  the  work  was, 
was  somewhat  indefinite  and  the  regular 
scale  of  wages  was  also  rather  indefinite. 

A  large  number  of  men  were  signing  up 
to  ship  to  Montana.  Some  were  in  need 
of  work  and  money  and  would  go  any  place. 


Hobo  Style  77 

Others  thought  they  would  work  a  little 
while  and  then  go  over  to  Canada  in  time 
for  harvest.  Some  had  no  definite  plans; 
if  the  work  and  the  pay  would  suit  them 
they  meant  to  stay.  But  there  was  also  a 
kind  of  hobo  class  that  either  just  wanted 
to  go  to  that  place  or  even  further  into  that 
State.  Insofar  as  the  railroad  was  con- 
cerned, they  wanted  men  to  come  to  Mon- 
tana whether  they  went  to  work  for  the 
men  who  contracted  for  their  labor  or 
whether  they  took  advantage  of  a  cheap  fare 
to  take  up  a  homestead. 

It  was  this  hobo  class  that  interested  me 
most.  A  young  husky  Swede  who  had  just 
bought  a  new  suit  of  clothes,  white  shirt 
and  collar,  stepped  in  and  told  the  employ- 
ment shark  that  he,  too,  wished  to  ship  to 
Montana.  "This  is  just  common  labor," 
said  the  shark.  "I  don't  give  a  darn,"  said 
the  Swede,  "I  want  to  get  out  of  this  burg," 

As  soon  as  several  other  fellows  were 
fixed  up,  the  man  turned  to  the  Swede. 
"Now,  you  understand  this  is  just  com- 
mon labor."     "Yes,  that  is  what  I  follow." 


78      With  the  Union  Men 

Then  the  employment  agent  said,  "Now, 
this  evening,  before  you  go,  you  must  take 
off  that  collar  and  white  shirt,  and  fix  up 
a  good  roll  of  working  clothes."  "What  in 
the  Sam  hill  do  you  think  I  am,  some  U.  S. 
Senator  or  Governor  or  something  of  that 
kind?  I  have  never  done  anything  else  but 
common  labor  all  my  life." 

"Well,"  said  the  agent,  "if  we  don't  hold 
you  fellows  down  a  little  you  will  look  too 
much  like  tourists,  and  there  will  be  a  kick 
coming  for  being  so  easy  about  selling 
jobs." 

As  I  left  the  office,  I  met  a  large  Irish- 
man of  about  fifty  years  of  age.  He  said 
to  me:  "You'd  better  ship  out  with  me  to- 
night." I  replied  that  I  could  not  very 
well  do  that  as  I  was  going  to  the  harvest 
field  in  about  a  week  or  so.  "Just  let  me 
tell  you,  I  am  not  going  to  work  at  that 
d —  job  for  which  these  fellows  are  sign- 
ing up.  I  am  going  to  work  in  the  harvest 
field  in  Montana.  There  are  about  a  dozen 
of  us  that  are  going  to  ship,  but  not  to 
that  contract  job.     That  is  dago  work.     I 


Hobo  Style  79 

know,"  he  continued,  "for  I  have  been  on 
the  road  too  long." 

I  became  immensely  interested  in  this 
shipping  business.  And  perhaps  I  could 
discover  some  new  facts  about  contract 
labor.  I  said  to  myself  this  would  be  a 
chance  to  have  a  lot  of  new  experience 
while  I  am  out  for  facts.  I  answered:  "I 
would  like  to  ship,  but  I  don't  care  to  ship 
to  Montana."  The  good-natured  Irishman 
leaned  over  to  me.  He  had  a  big  cud  of 
tobacco  in  his  mouth  and  his  breath  almost 
knocked  me  over;  yet  he  tried  to  be  just 
as  friendly  as  he  could.  He  continued  in 
a  low  voice,  saying:  "Just  take  it  from  me, 
you  can  get  off  where  you  damn  please  and 
no  one  can  stop  you."  I  said:  "But  what 
of  the  baggage  I  must  send,  about  twenty- 
five  dollars  worth  of  clothes  and  blankets?" 

I  had  heard  the  agent  tell  a  man  that 
each  one  has  to  check  his  baggage  to  the 
place  where  he  is  going  to  work  before  he 
can  get  his  pass.  "Why,  just  let  me  tell 
you,  sir,"  he  continued  in  a  low  voice,  lest 
any  one  should  get  wise,  "there  is  a  Jew 


80      With  the  Union  Men 

who  fixes  Up  dummies.  You  can  get  an 
old  coat,  a  pair  of  pants,  a  pair  of  old  shoes, 
rolled  in  an  old  blanket  with  a  small  rope 
around  it  for  a  handle,  all  for  six-bits,  and 
it  will  pass  with  the  rest. 

At  first  he  told  me  where  the  place  was, 
but  then  he  said:  "I  will  go  with  you  and 
show  you  the  place.  It's  only  a  couple  of 
blocks  up.  As  we  were  walking  to  the  Jew's 
place,  the  man  said,  ''These  damned  Jews 
buy  up  this  stuff  as  junk.  They  can  sell  it 
to  you  for  a  song,  and  make  money  at  that." 
The  Jew's  store  was  a  dinky  little  place 
like  most  down-town  second-hand  stores  are. 
My  friend  said  to  the  Jew:  ''Say,  partner, 
this  man  wants  to  ship  to-night  and  he  needs 
a  dummy."  "I  just  sold  the  last  one  I  had 
not  over  five  minutes  ago,"  said  the  Jew  in 
broken  English,  "but  I  can  fix  him  one  in 
about  three  minutes."  "Go  ahead  and  fix 
one,"  I  said.  The  clothes  were  very  old 
and  just  about  rotten,  but  the  blanket  was 
quite  good,  though  soiled,  and  yet  not  good 
enough  that  any  one  would  buy  it  to  put 
on  a  bed. 


Hobo  Style  8 1 


When  the  Jew  had  me  all  fixed  up,  I  hur- 
ried to  the  bank  to  get  a  small  check  cashed, 
and  then  went  to  my  room  and  dressed  as 
nearly  like  a  hobo  as  I  could.  Then  I  re- 
turned to  the  Jew's  store  for  my  baggage, 
and  took  it  to  the  employment  shark.  I 
really  needed  a  shave,  but  I  was  glad  that 
I  had  not  shaved,  as  I  might  pass  the  bet- 
ter as  a  laboring  man  without  much  red 
tape. 

There  were  several  men  ahead  of  me. 
Each  man  had  to  pay  the  employment  agent 
two  dollars  for  the  job,  and  he  was  making 
money.  It  was  his  aim  to  get  enough  men 
for  a  car  and  then  not  ship  for  a  few  days. 
He  took  my  name;  I  paid  my  two  dollars, 
then  I  handed  him  my  luggage,  which  was 
thrown  among  the  rest  of  the  bundles  that 
were  to  go.  I  was  told  to  be  on  hand  at 
the  office  about  nine  that  evening.  It  was 
about  4  p.  M.  when  I  was  all  fixed  up  for 
this  first  shipping  experience. 

I  was  delighted  for  the  way  everything 
had  gone  thus  for,  with  the  exception  of 
the  fact  that  I  was  dressed  like  a  hobo,  and 


82      With  the  Union  Men 

might  be  picked  up  by  some  cop,  and  then 
my  plans  for  that  night  would  be  spoiled. 
Then,  too,  some  one  from  home  might  acci- 
dentally meet  me  on  the  street,  and  I  should 
hate  to  explain  what  I  was  just  about  to  do. 
The  I.  W.  W.  hall  was  not  far  away,  so 
I  thought  that  I  might  as  well  spend  an 
hour  up  there.  As  I  was  coming  in  a 
soldier  was  just  leaving.  I  asked  an  I.  W. 
W.  whom  I  had  seen  before:  "Do  any  sol- 
diers carry  I.  W.  W.  cards?"  "Well,  they 
may  not  carry  their  cards,  but  a  lot  of  them 
are  members  of  this  local."  I  said,  "What 
use  have  they  for  this  union  when  they  work 
for  Uncle  Sam  ?  Besides,  it  means  an  extra 
expense."  He  said:  "The  idea  is  this.  A 
lot  of  our  men  were  drafted  and,  while  they 
are  as  patriotic  as  anybody,  yet  they  hate 
like  the  devil  to  be  shipped  out  of  the  coun- 
try for  they  fear,  for  one  thing,  that  their 
jobs  here  will  be  taken  by  this  here  Oriental 
labor." 

I  continued  by  asking:  "There  are  not 
so  many  Orientals  in  this  State,  are  there?" 
"Yes,  but  these  rich  devils  can  easily  enough 


Hobo  Style  83 

make  arrangements  at  D.  C.  to  ship  in  sev- 
eral hundred  thousand.  That  is,  if  the 
unions  will  stand  for  it.  And  the  chances 
are  they  will  do  it  anyway.  So  if  a  soldier 
keeps  up  his  membership  during  the  war, 
when  he  comes  back  he  stands  a  better 
chance  of  getting  a  job  here,  even  if  not  the 
same  position  he  left." 

I  was  told  later  on  by  some  men  that 
there  are  just  hundreds  of  men  in  the  Army 
that  belong  to  the  unions,  and  many  of 
them  carry  their  cards.  And,  of  course, 
among  the  whole  number  there  are  a  few 
radical  extremists.  However,  a  few  of 
these  radicals  get  into  trouble  who  are  not 
the  real  union  men  at  all,  do  not  keep  up 
their  dues  nor  anything  else,  but  carry  an 
old  card  even  in  the  Army.  Then  the  whole 
union  is  branded  because  of  these  extreme 
few. 

About  five-thirty  I  hurried  back  to  the 
waterfront  shanty  to  have  a  good  meal  with 
Jack  and  Dick  before  leaving.  They  had 
just  returned  from  work.  When  I  told 
them  what  I  was  up  to,  they  both  had  a. 


84      With  the  Union  Men 

hearty  laugh.  Dick  said:  "Why  not  go 
on  to  Montana  and  bring  back  a  couple  of 
bottles  of  white  mule  (whiskey)?  A  fel- 
low would  make  more  than  expenses  and 
have  the  experience,  too."  "Yes,  and  wind 
up  in  jail  for  six  months,"  I  said.  "O,  the 
devil;  you  are  not  wise  to  the  trick  yet," 
said  Dick  as  he  leaned  back  in  his  chair 
and  took  several  deep  puffs  from  his  old 
pipe.  "A  fellow  don't  want  to  put  the  bot- 
tles in  his  suit  case  nor  in  his  trunk,  for 
these  railroad  guys  will  get  wise.  The  safest 
way  is  to  put  them  in  your  blankets  and 
check  them  right  through  and  no  one  will 
get  wise.  That  is  the  way  a  lot  of  them 
here  get  their  booze." 

Just  as  we  were  about  to  go  up  town  Jack 
said,  "Did  you  hear  much  about  the  fifteen 
I.  W.  W.'s  they  arrested  today?"  "No,"  I 
said,  "just  noticed  a  sign  on  the  wall  which 
read,  'don't  forget  to  visit  the  comrades  in 
jail,' "  and  then  gave  the  visiting  hours. 
"I  be  damned,"  said  Dick,  "what  did  they 
do  now?"  "Well,"  said  Jack,  "they  found 
some    dynamite    near    that    new    railroad 


Hobo  Style  85 

bridge,  and  these  stiffs  were  camping  near 
by.  They  naturally  took  the  whole  gang, 
fifteen  of  them."  "I  am  sure  they  were  not 
all  I.  W.  W.'s,"  said  Dick.  "Hell,  no,"  said 
Jack,  "only  three  had  cards."  "Yes,  and  I 
bet  my  old  pipe  they  swiped  those." 

After  I  went  down  town  it  was  a  little 
early  yet  to  go  to  the  employment  office. 
I  stopped  and  listened  to  several  Socialist 
speakers  on  the  street.  After  that  I  walked 
into  a  dance  hall  for  a  few  minutes.  I  did 
not  look  very  prosperous,  but  rather  like  a 
hobo.  Yet  several  well-dressed  girls  asked 
me  to  dance  with  them.  But  each  time  I  re- 
fused with  a  polite  "No." 

As  I  looked  at  my  watch  I  noticed  that 
it  was  now  eight-thirty  and  I  must  be  on 
hand  at  the  employment  office.  As  I  was 
walking  along  I  noticed  many  young  girls 
with  discouraged  faces — some  selling  cigars, 
others  as  helpers  at  shooting  galleries,  and 
similar  places.  Their  faces  betrayed  them. 
Their  future  did  not  look  bright.  The  pros- 
pects of  being  something  in  this  world  had 
vanished  for  them,  and  a  deep  gloom  had 


86      With  the  Union  Men 

taken  its  place.  I  felt  sorry  for  those  young 
girls.  I  said  to  myself,  "There  is  a  problem 
for  some  one  to  solve." 

At  the  office  the  men  seemed  to  come 
from  every  direction.  My!  what  a  rough- 
looking  group  we  were.  "An  easy  raid 
for  the  police,"  I  said  to  myself.  Each  man 
was  given  his  bundle.  And  then  a  young 
fellow  marched  us  to  the  station,  always 
keeping  an  eye  on  us,  lest  some  one  should 
give  him  the  slip  and  sell  his  pass  to  some 
one  else.  We  were  not  permitted  to  enter 
the  waiting  room  where  the  other  pas- 
sengers were,  but  we  had  to  go  through  a 
side  door,  where  we  were  relieved  of  our 
baggage.  Then  we  were  herded  in  one 
corner  until  our  car  was  ready.  The  young 
fellow  that  was  herding  us  could  not  say 
a  word  without  an  addition  of  slang  or  pro- 
fanity. Because  he  was  well-dressed  and 
we  were  not,  he  considered  himself  a  master 
and  far  superior  to  us.  I  thought  right 
then,  how  in  the  world  can  the  people  be 
such  fools  as  not  to  save  a  little  money, 
even  if  the  wage  is  small,   and  thus  keep 


Hobo  Style  87 

from  being  slaves  and  dogs?  And  again 
I  thought  of  men  who  have  no  trade  that 
vi^ork  long  hours  at  drudgery  and  toil  and 
soon  lose  all  ambition  for  almost  everything, 
and  become  slaves  for  task-masters. 

Soon  a  side  door  was  opened  and  we 
were  marched  to  our  car.  The  fellow  said, 
when  all  were  in,  "Don't  put  anything  over- 
head on  them  racks — it  looks  too  damn 
much  like  tourists;  you  must  remember  you 
are  traveling  as  laborers." 

The  car  was  an  old-timer  with  no  rug 
in  the  middle  aisle;  tobacco  ashes  on  the 
window  sills  and  on  the  seats.  It  had  been 
a  good  smoker  at  one  time.  A  number  of 
the  men  lighted  their  pipes  or  cigarettes, 
and  some  even  took  off  their  shoes  before 
the  train  started.  The  young  fellow  who 
had  marched  us  into  the  car  like  so  many 
sheep,  instructed  us  how  to  send  him  liquor 
in  care  of  the  baggageman  and  then  left  the 
car.  "My,  he  is  an  overbearing  devil,"  one 
of  the  men  said. 

In  a  few  minutes  we  were  going  about 
as   fast  as   steam  could  carry  us.     Every- 


88      With  the  Union  Men 

body  seemed  to  talk  as  loud  as  he  could  so 
he  would  be  understood.  I  soon  discovered 
that  there  were  several  others  that  were  not 
going  to  the  Montana  destination.  Not  a 
few  were  rather  dubious  about  the  job. 

As  we  arrived  at  Everett,  some  of  the 
men  told  others  all  about  the  awful  tragedy 
at  that  place  of  a  short  time  before.  The 
sheriff  and  several  other  men  had  tried  to 
clean  out  a  number  of  I.  W.  W.  men  who 
were  riding  in  a  launch.  As  soon  as  the 
boat  had  been  tied  the  officer  and  his  men 
opened  fire.  The  L  W.  W.  returned  the 
fire  and  killed  the  sheriff.  The  engineer 
tried  to  get  away,  but  the  boat  was  tied. 
However,  by  turning  on  the  full  power 
the  boat  broke  the  rope  and  they  got  away, 
after  several  I.  W.  W.  men  also  had  been 
killed.  The  killed  who  had  fallen  over- 
board were  picked  up  by  the  sheriff's  friends 
and  weighted  down  and  sunk.  But  the 
I.  W.  W.  comrades  found  the  bodies  any- 
way. After  a  long  court  proceeding  the 
I.  W.  W.'s  won  their  case  and  were  set 
free.     The  men  gave   the   reason   for   the 


Hobo  Style  89 

sheriff's  acts  to  be,  that  he  was  paid  by  rich 
mill  owners  to  break  up  all  forms  of  or- 
ganized labor. 

As  we  proceeded  on  our  way  everybody 
seemed  to  get  hungry.  Some  had  a  little 
cheese  and  bread,  or  bologna;  others  had  a 
few  oranges  and  apples,  while  some  had 
nuts.  Others  expected  to  get  a  sandwich 
before  morning  at  some  stop.  And  I  am 
quite  sure  some  of  the  men  had  neither 
food  nor  money  in  their  possession.  I  was 
learning  all  the  time,  a  little  more,  "how 
the  other  half  lives."  My  sympathy  went 
out  to  those  men,  about  half  of  whom  were 
middle-aged  men,  without  a  home,  knocking 
around  from  pillar  to  post. 

About  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  our 
train  had  to  stop  in  town  and  wait  for 
another  train.  Several  of  the  men  got  off 
to  get  a  sandwich  and  I  decided  to  do  the 
same.  I  noticed  my  Irish  friend  get  off, 
too,  and  come  to  the  lunch  counter  where 
I  was.  He  said:  "I  think  this  is  as  far  as 
I  am  going."  I  thought,  "What  is  the  use 
to  go  any  further?     I  have  had  the  expe- 


90      With  the  Union  Men 

rience,  and  if  I  go  any  further  it  will  just 
run  up  my  expenses  and  car  fare  going 
back."  So  I,  too,  stayed  in  the  restaurant 
and  let  the  train  pull  out. 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 


VIII.    With  Union  Men  in 
the  Harvest  Field 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 


With  Union  Men  in  the  Harvest  Field 

A  FTER  my  return  to  Seattle  one  of 
/  \  the  first  items  of  black  news  that 
^  ^  I  heard  was  that  the  "Woman 
Slugger"  had  added  another  victim  to  his 
record,  by  sneaking  up  to  a  woman  and 
breaking  her  back  with  some  blunt  instru- 
ment. I  felt  sure  that  such  a  demon  would 
soon  be  caught,  but  even  months  afterward 
I  heard  that  he  was  still  at  large  doing  his 
fiendish  work. 

During  the  many  strikes  the  police  de- 
partment suffered,  too.  Some  members  had 
quit  because  they  were  in  sympathy  with 
the  men  they  should  arrest.  And  then  the 
department  was  in  need  of  more  recruits  to 
make  the  city  safe.  Jack  said  one  evening: 
"I  am  going  to  try  for  a  job  on  the  police 
force  tomorrow."  Being  somewhat  of  a 
husky,    he   was    told   to   go   to   work   that 


94      With  the  Union  Men 

evening.  When  Jack  came  home  after  his 
first  night's  work  on  the  force,  he  emptied 
his  pockets  on  the  table;  a  gun,  black-jack, 
wrist  chain,  handcuffs,  whistle,  flashlight, 
etc.  Dick  sized  him  up  and  said  in  his 
usual  profane  way,  *'You  would  make  a  hell 
of  a  bull  on  the  force."  Jack  said:  "No 
more  dock  work  for  me.  I  have  a  city  job 
now,  and  I  am  going  to  settle  down  in  the 
next  few  months  and  get  married  and  have 
me  a  home  of  my  own."  "The  devil  you 
are,"  replied  Dick  rather  sarcastically,  or 
even  a  little  enviously.  Jack  said:  "I  am 
going  to  make  good,  and  if  luck  is  with 
me,  I  may  some  day  be  chief  of  police."  I 
thought  that  was  not  so  bad  for  an  I.  W.  W. 
I  learned  that  harvesting  would  com" 
mence  in  a  few  days  in  the  eastern  part 
of  the  State.  I  asked  Dick  if  he  wished  to 
go  with  me.  After  thinking  it  over  he  said, 
"I  may  as  well  go  with  you  as  stay  here 
and  batch  by  myself,  as  it  is  most  too  un- 
handy for  Jack  to  stay  at  this  damn  shack, 
for  you  know  he  has  to  live  a  little  more 
respectable  since  he  is  on  the  police  force. 


In  the  Harvest  Field      95 

He  is  talking  about  getting  a  room  on  Sec- 
ond avenue."  When  we  told  Jack  that  we 
were  both  going  to  the  harvest  field,  he  came 
nearly  going  along.  For  just  the  night  be- 
fore a  cop  had  been  shot  from  ambush  in 
the  very  district  where  Jack  was  on  duty. 
Jack  said,  as  we  were  about  to  leave:  "If 
I  thought  some  crook  would  shoot  me  some 
night,  I  would  quit  the  force  right  now  and 
go  with  you  fellows." 

People  tried  to  tell  me  that  the  I.  W.  W.'s 
w^ere  burning  the  wheatfields,  and  would 
likely  kill  us  if  we  would  go  to  work  for 
long  hours  and  low  wages.  We  stopped 
at  W^alla  Walla  a  day  to  take  in  the  sights 
of  the  Ideal  City.  Here  we  found  that  many 
prisoners  were  working  at  different  things 
on  their  own  honor.  We  were  told  that 
very  few  break  away,  even  if  they  are  sure 
that  they  can  make  their  escape.  A  police- 
man said:  "Why,  you  can  place  these  men 
in  the  harvest  field  on  Monday  morning  all 
by  themselves,  and  on  Saturday  night  they 
would  return  to  the  prison."  He  went  on 
to  say:     "We  have  the  most  modern  and 


96      With  the  Union  Men 

best  prison  system  of  the  world  right  here 
in  Walla  Walla.  We  don't  make  slaves  out 
of  our  prisoners,  but  men.  You  can't  re- 
form a  man  by  abuse  and  maltreatment.  He 
wants  a  chance  such  as  he  has  never  had, 
and  if  you  can't  trust  him,  he  most  cer- 
tainly won't  trust  you  .  Of  course,  there  are 
a  few  men  whose  minds  are  defective  in 
some  way,  so  that  you  never  could  thrust 
them  upon  the  public.  But  that  percentage 
is  very  small."  Just  then  one  of  the  trusties 
came  from  work,  going  to  his  lunch.  The 
officer  said:  "That  man  has  to  serve  five 
years  for  stealing  less  than  five  dollars 
worth  of  old  copper,  really  junk.  Now,  I 
do  not  uphold  stealing,  but  many  men  that 
belong  to  our  big  corporations  steal  more 
than  a  thousand  times  that  much  each  year 
from  the  public  and  no  one  opens  his  mouth 
about  it.  This  poor  fellow  even  has  a  wife 
and  child.  It  is  the  present  system,  you 
know,"  he  said. 

We  left  the  officer  and  went  to  a  restau- 
rant, where  we  met  several  men  who  were 
going  to  work  in  the  same  community  that 


In  the  Harvest  Field      97 

we  were.  We  left  early  next  morning  for 
our  place  of  work.  On  arriving  at  our  little 
town  the  farmers  received  us  with  open 
arms.  Dick  and  I  tried  to  work  for  the 
same  man.  But  we  were  not  so  fortunate 
as  all  that.  Dick  hired  out  to  haul  hay 
for  a  few  days  at  three-fifty  a  day,  and 
for  driving  a  team  in  the  harvest  field  he 
was  to  get  four  dollars  a  day.  This  was 
a  twelve-hour  job.  He  did  not  kick  about 
the  wages,  but  the  hours  seemed  unreason- 
ably long  to  him,  even  if  it  was  harvest 
time. 

A  farmer  came  to  me  and  said:  "The 
barber  just  told  me  you  could  stack  grain. 
I  have  about  eight  hundred  acres  to  stack. 
I  need  a  damn  good  stacker.  I  will  pay  you 
six  dollars  a  day  and  board  if  you  will  stay 
with  me  to  the  end."  "How  soon  are  you 
going  to  harvest?"  I  asked.  "We  are  going 
to  start  tomorrow  afternoon."  "All  right, 
I  will  go  with  you,"  was  my  reply.  Dick 
was  really  sorry  that  he  had  not  made  a 
bluff   at   stacking.      My   boss    would   have 


98      With  the  Union  Men 

offered  just  half  the  wage  which  he  did 
if  help  had  not  been  so  scarce. 

The  farmers  were  all  hoping  that  none 
would  get  an  I  W..  W.  in  their  crew.  The 
papers  reported  all  the  time  of  I.  W.  W.'s 
burning  fields  of  grain,  etc.  The  county 
would  usually  be  given,  but  not  a  definite 
place.  That  was  very  misleading  and  kept 
the  farmers  in  "hot  water."  But  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  the  farmers  were  hiring  I.  W. 
W.'s  by  the  dozens,  as  I  shall  state  more 
fully  a  little  later. 

"All  right,  Mr.  Harry,  get  your  bedding 
and  let's  go  to  the  ranch."  "I  haven't  any 
bedding  of  my  own,"  I  said.  "I  guess  we 
can  fix  you  up  all  right,"  he  said  as  he  got 
into  his  machine.  He  started  at  thirty-five 
miles  an  hour  out  of  town,  but  did  not  go 
fast  very  long,  for  the  road  was  all  fine 
dust;  we  went  up  hill  and  then  down  hill, 
plowing  through  the  dusty  road;  up  hill  we 
would  go  on  low  and  down  so  fast  that  we 
were  in  a  black  cloud  of  dirt.  On  our  ar- 
rival at  his  ranch,  he  told  me  to  bring  my 
suitcase,  and  he  would  show  me  my  head- 


In  the  Harvest  Field      99 

quarters.  It  was  a  granary  for  storing 
sacked  grain.  The  walls  were  full  of  large 
cracks,  and  from  one  to  three  inches  of 
fine  dust  on  the  bed  and  on  everything  else. 
"Now  just  make  yourself  at  home,"  he  said, 
as  he  left  me. 

I  had  a  good  suit  of  clothes  that  I  wished 
to  save,  but  where  to  put  it  was  a  question. 
After  driving  a  large  nail  into  the  wall,  I 
took  a  short  limb  of  a  tree  for  a  hanger. 
Then  I  took  several  newspapers  and  pinned 
them  around  the  suit  and  hung  the  whole 
business  on  the  wall,  where  it  stayed  for 
six  long  weeks.  I  soon  made  myself  useful 
by  pumping  water  for  a  dozen  horses  and  a 
lot  of  hogs. 

At  the  table  that  evening  the  boss'  daugh- 
ter was  very  outspoken  about  the  Industrial 
Workers  of  the  World.  She  said:  "I  wish 
those  I.  W.  W.'s  would  all  be  driven  out 
of  the  country;  they  burn  the  ranchers' 
houses  and  grain  fields."  "Yes,"  said  the 
Mrs.  of  the  house,  "They  poison  stock  and 
wells."  "Of  course,"  the  daughter  went  on 
to  say,  "there  is  nothing  like  that  going  on 


1 00     With  the  Union  Men 

around  here."  "Yet  you  can't  tell  how  soon 
they  will  get  in  here,  too,"  said  the  mother. 
Just  then  the  boss  came  in,  planked  himself 
down  on  a  chair  and  started  to  reach  for 
about  two  things  at  the  same  time.  "Say, 
Harry,  how  could  a  rancher  tell  if  he  were 
to  get  an  I.  W.  W.  in  one  of  these  crews? 
For  he  could  do  a  h —  of  a  lot  of  damage 
here  in  these  big  grain  fields  at  the  price 
that  grain  is  this  year." 

I  said:  "Some  carry  cards;  others  but- 
tons, and  as  far  as  doing  damage,  here  in 
these  big  grain  fields,  I  don't  think  there 
will  be  any  of  that  as  long  as  they  are 
treated  like  human  beings."  "We  are  pay 
ing  good  wages;  the  men  ought  to  ask  for 
nothing  else,"  he  grunted  and  thus  went  on 
to  say:  "I  worked  in  the  harvest  field 
twenty  years  ago  for  a  dollar  and  twenty- 
five  cents  a  day.  I  don't  see  why  we  should 
pay  any  more  now?"  I  said,  "Just  think 
what  you  are  getting  for  your  grain  now." 
"O,  well,"  he  said,  "the  laboring  class  did 
not  give  us  that  good  price;  it  is  the  de- 
mand,  you  know."      I   replied   by   saying. 


In  the  Harvest  Field     1 0 1 

"Twenty  years  ago  you  paid  fifty  cents  for 
your  overalls,  now  these  men  pay  three 
times  as  much;  and  for  everything  accord- 
ingly." "O,  h — ,  you  workingmen  want 
everything  your  way.  Don't  the  farmers 
pay  more  for  their  stuff,  too?"  It  being 
the  first  evening,  and  as  he  was  getting 
rather  excited,  and  further,  he  would  not 
reason,  I  decided  the  best  policy  was  to 
quit  arguing  the  labor  problem  any  further 
that  evening. 

I  was  rather  tired  that  evening  so  I  went 
back  to  my  headquarters  (the  granary) 
rather  early.  I  was  sitting  on  my  bed, 
which  was  an  old  bunk,  taking  off  my  shoes 
and  socks  when  Mrs.  Green,  the  boss'  wife, 
turned  up.  "You  are  not  going  to  use 
my  bedding  are  you?"  she  said.  "Why, 
Mrs.  Green,  I  haven't  any  blankets  of  my 
own."  "Well,  you  men  ought  to  furnish 
your  own  bedding.  I  just  loaned  those 
things  to  the  hired  men  during  plowing." 
Now,  if  I  had  just  been  a  little  nearer  to 
town  that  night  the  boss  would  have  been 
minus  one  harvest  hand  the  next  morning, 


1 02     With  the  Union  Men 

for  the  bedding  consisted  of  a  dirty-  worn- 
out  overcoat,  a  torn  blanket,  and  a  very- 
dirty  piece  of  a  pillow.  That  on  a  hard 
bunk,  might  make  a  good  bed  for  a  dog, 
but  it  did  not  for  me. 

Saturday  night  about  nine  o'clock  I  went 
to  the  nearest  town,  five  miles  away,  think- 
ing that  I  might  get  a  shave.  But  there 
was  only  one  dinky  barber  shop,  and  about 
forty  men  standing  outside  lined  up  to  get 
a  shave  or  a  hair-cut.  Some  of  us  decided 
not  to  shave  for  several  weeks  at  all.  There 
was  not  a  place  in  town  to  get  a  bath,  while, 
in  fact,  every  one  needed  a  bath  to  wash  ofif 
the  sweat  and  dirt. 

The  crews  all  refused  to  work  on  Sun- 
day in  the  community  where  I  worked.  The 
men  simply  could  not  stand  it,  to  work 
from  twelve  to  fourteen  hours  a  day  all 
week.  And  often  the  water  was  not  good, 
and  in  some  instances  the  food  had  too  much 
of  a  greasy  flavor. 

The  second  Sunday  about  a  half  dozen 
harvesting  and  threshing  crews  met  at  a 
small  river  to  bathe  and  wash  their  clothes. 


In  the  Harvest  Field     103 

It  was  a  great  sight  to  see  a  large  body  of 
men  washing  their  shirts,  underwear,  ban- 
dana handkerchiefs,  socks,  and  some  even 
washed  their  overalls  or  pants.  Not  all 
had  brought  soap,  but  there  was  enough  to 
go  around.  Large  rocks  were  used  as  wash- 
boards. Everybody  was  willing  to  share 
his  last  piece  of  soap  with  the  other  fellow 
or  his  stone  to  rub  the  clothes. 

The  sun  beat  down  real  hot,  so  it  did 
not  take  long  for  the  clothes  to  dry.  The 
clothes  were  all  spread  on  the  green  grass 
or  on  shrubbery,  and  while  the  men  sat 
naked  in  a  group  smoking  and  talking  about 
labor  problems  their  clothes  were  slowly 
drying.  The  men  were  rather  cheerful 
after  a  bath  and  a  little  rest.  Being  a 
group  of  one  sex  to  themselves,  their  gen- 
eral sentences  in  their  conversations  were 
well  seasoned  with  profanity.  They  did, 
however,  agree  that  ten  hours  of  labor  a 
day  in  the  field  was  enough  even  in  the 
harvest  field.  And  if  one  rancher  had  too 
many  acres  for  one  crew,  he  ought  to  run 
two  crews.     The  men  had  also  discovered 


1 04     With  the  Union  Men 

that  some  men  hire  out  to  cut  some  four 
or  five  hundred  acres  for  their  neighbors 
besides  their  own.  Then  they  are  afraid 
they  will  not  be  able  to  make  good  or  to 
get  around  in  time  to  their  own  and  the 
other  man's,  too,  so  they  crowd  their  crews 
almost  day  and  night.  This  was  condemned 
and  considered  unreasonable  by  the  men. 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 


IX.    The  Problem  of  Rest 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 


The  Problem  of  Rest 

SOME  of  the  grain  fields  were  so  large 
and  we  were  so  far  away  after  a  few 
weeks  of  cutting  that  the  boss  thought 
we  were  losing  too  much  time  in  going  back 
and  forth  with  the  teams  and  the  crew. 
There  was  an  old  shack  and  a  large  barn 
near  the  river,  where  we  had  several  hun- 
dred acres  of  wheat  to  cut  yet,  so  we  de- 
cided to  batch  there.  We  took  a  cow,  a 
cooking  stove,  cooking  utensils  and  a  lot  of 
eatables  to  the  new  place. 

The  first  night  we  tried  to  sleep  in  the 
barn  on  the  hay.  The  hay  was  really  grain 
cut  before  it  was  ripe.  The  mice  and  rats 
were  at  home  there  by  the  thousands,  run- 
ning over  our  faces  and  bodies  all  night. 
We  got  but  little  rest  and  at  four  a.  m. 
we  had  to  get  up  to  go  to  work  again.  The 
second  night  I  just  placed  an  armful  of  hay 


1 08     With  the  Union  Men 

under  one  of  the  header  barges  in  the  yard. 
On  the  hay  I  unrolled  my  bedding  and  went 
to  sleep.  After  breakfast,  just  about  sun- 
rise, I  started  to  roll  up  my  bedding,  and 
what  did  my  eyes  behold  but  two  large  ugly 
rattlesnakes  asleep  in  my  blanket.  They 
had  gotten  cold  crawling  around  in  the 
yard,  so  when  they  found  a  warm  place, 
they  just  crawled  in  and  shared  it  with  me. 
The  crew  talked  about  that  all  day. 

Yet  the  idea  of  finding  a  safe  place  for 
a  rest  was  not  an  easy  question  to  solve. 
The  third  night  two  of  us  forked  some  hay 
into  an  old  wagon  box  which  stood  on  the 
ground.  About  twelve  o'clock  a  large  long- 
horned  bull  stuck  his  nose  right  in  my  face, 
for  he  could  smell  the  hay.  We  tried  to 
scare  him  away,  but  he  kept  on  coming 
back,  while  we  watched  for  him  with  a  club. 
He  did  not  harm  us,  but  it  spoiled  our 
short  night's  rest,  which  we  could  but  ill 
afford. 

So  we  all  returned  to  the  barn  among 
the  mice  and  rats  in  preference  to  sleeping 
outside   with   rattlesnakes    and   wild   bulls. 


Problem  of  Rest       109 

The  whole  crew  became  much  perplexed  as 
to  what  to  do  about  getting  a  little  more 
rest  those  short  nights. 

There  was  a  fine  spring  to  drink  from. 
But  there  was  nothing  around  it,  so  the 
neighbor's  hogs  would  get  into  it  ever  so 
often  and  make  it  all  muddy  for  us.  One 
noon  the  whole  crew  wanted  to  quit  on  ac- 
count of  the  poor  sleeping  accommodations 
and  the  water  proposition.  I  gave  the  boss 
a  good  lecture  for  treating  his  men  like  so 
many  animals,  who  would  help  him  out  in 
a  time  when  he  needed  them  most;  that  re- 
gardless of  good  or  bad  wages  men  should 
be  treated  respectably  if  the  farmers  ex- 
pected to  get  any  help  in  the  future. 

I  then  talked  to  the  men  and  begged  them 
to  stay,  and  I  promised  the  men  that  I 
would  build  a  fence  around  the  spring  in 
order  to  keep  out  the  hogs  in  the  future. 
All  but  two  promised  to  stay  if  I  fixed  up 
the  spring.  But  the  boss  absolutely  refused 
to  fix  up  better  sleeping  accommodations  for 
his  crew  and  all  decided  not  to  return  to  the 
same  men  next  year. 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 


X.    The  Would-be  Union  Man 


A  Summer  with  the  Union  Men 


The  Would-be  Union  Man 

THERE  is  a  degraded  class  of  hu- 
manity waiting  for  the  millennium 
when  all  property  will  be  divided  up, 
and  they,  too,  will  get  a  share.  They  board 
at  garbage  cans  and  drain  the  kegs  for  their 
drink.  In  Portland,  Oregon,  several  of 
these  garbage-can  boarders  were  pointed 
out  to  me.  During  the  day  they  would  sit 
in  the  parks,  etc.,  and  in  the  morning  or 
toward  evening  they  spent  their  time  going 
to  rooming  houses,  apartment  houses  and 
to  different  hotels,  where  they  would  open 
the  garbage  cans  and  pick  out  whatever 
they  thought  they  could  eat  or  fix  up  to 
eat.  After  all,  that  class  of  people  need 
but  little,  as  they  do  not  work,  nor  think, 
and  not  even  worry,  so  there  is  little  energy 
expended  which  has  to  be  replenished  by 
nourishing  food.     They  also  pick  over  the 


1 1 4     With  the  Union  Men 

old  clothes  which  have  been  thrown  aside 
for  the  ash  man  to  haul  away.  They  can 
easily  add  to  their  clothes  as  fast  as  they 
can  wear  them  out. 

As  long  as  they  are  well  they  are  not 
really  a  public  charge.  They  do  little  harm 
and  no  good  whatever.  In  case  they  die 
without  being  sick  very  long,  the  medical 
students  get  their  bodies,  so  there  is  not 
even  a  pauper's  funeral  expenses.  How- 
ever, in  a  case  of  a  long  spell  of  illness  they 
are  usually  taken  to  some  charitable  insti- 
tution, where  they  are  a  public  charge. 

Some  of  these  men  have  a  unique  taste 
for  liquor,  and  also  a  way  of  satisfying  it. 
A  tin  can  is  carried  and  a  number  of  kegs 
are  drained  each  day  in  the  rear  of  saloons 
or  barrel  houses.  As  there  is  always  a 
little  left  in  each  keg  and  time  is  no  object 
to  them,  they  get  all  they  need  from  day 
to  day  to  satisfy  that  craving. 

Now,  to  be  sure,  if  these  degraded  men 
have  an  appetite  and  a  craving  for  liquor 
which  they  manage  to  satisfy,  they  surely 
must  also  use  tobacco,  and  how  do  they  get 


Would-be  Union  Man     1 1  5 

that  without  paying  for  it?  They  use  a 
simple  motto  when  it  comes  to  the  demand 
and  supply,  "God  helps  them  that  help 
themselves."  So  they  go  and  help  them- 
selves. Not  by  planting  and  reaping  and 
the  manufacturing  of  the  narcotic,  nor  by 
stealing  it  from  any  one  else,  like  many  cap- 
italists. These  men  simply  go  to  the  scrap 
cans  which  stand  on  the  street  curbs  and 
fill  their  pockets  with  cigar  stubs.  Some 
chew  them;  others  smoke  them  in  old  pipes. 
In  speaking  to  one  of  these  interesting 
characters,  of  which  we  have  quite  a  num- 
ber in  each  city,  I  asked  him,  "Where  do 
you  sleep  nights?"  "O,  where  I  sleep? 
Well,  for  the  last  three  months  I  have  slept 
in  an  old  neglected  graveyard.  I  used  to 
sleep  in  old  attics,  etc.,  but  the  bulls  got 
wise  and  had  me  locked  up  as  a  vagrant. 
Yes,  I  have  been  locked  up  thirty-two  times 
in  the  city  prison  or  in  the  county  work- 
house." "For  how  long  would  they  lock 
you  up  at  a  time?"  I  asked  him.  "O,  well, 
from  ten  to  sixty  days,"  he  said.  He  went 
on  to  say  in  winter  time  he  did  not  mind  if 


1 1 6     With  the  Union  Men 

he  got  thirty  days  in  the  work-house,  but 
in  the  summer  he  hated  to  have  to  be 
locked  up. 

He  told  me  of  a  friend  of  his  by  the 
name  of  Stone,  who  had  been  one  of  the 
finest  cooks  in  the  city.  In  fact,  he  had 
been  cook  for  a  long  time  in  the  largest 
hotel  in  the  city,  but  drink  had  gotten  the 
best  of  him  until  he  lost  job  after  job,  and 
finally  he  could  not  hold  any  job  any  more. 
Then  he  began  to  beg  from  restaurant  to 
restaurant,  and  toward  the  last  he  just  lived 
out  of  the  garbage  cans  and  slept  in  old 
attics.  He  said,  "And  my  friend  died  two 
weeks  ago  in  an  empty  house.  Some  boys 
found  his  body  and  the  city  authorities  made 
the  medical  students  a  present  of  it."  The 
tears  rolled  down  his  cheeks  when  he  told 
me  of  the  end  of  his  friend. 

Then  there  is  another  class  just  a  little 
different  from  the  garbage-can  boarder. 
This  class  does  not  stay  in  one  place  as 
much  as  the  other  nor  do  they  confine  them- 
selves to  the  large  cities  only.  It  is  a  large 
army  of  migratory  men  that  camp  here  a 


Would-he  Union  Man     1  1 7 

little  while  and  there  a  little.  They  very 
seldom  work  for  a  meal  and  never  for  their 
clothes.  They  beg  all  they  need,  which  is 
not  very  much.  They  have  a  hard-luck 
story  that  they  tell,  which  brings  them  al- 
ways something,  if  not  in  one  place,  then 
in  another.  Many  farmers  have  a  kind  of 
religious  motto,  never  to  refuse  a  stranger 
a  night's  lodging,  which  of  course  includes 
supper  and  breakfast.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that  there  are  thousands  of  these  well- 
meaning  people  all  over  the  country.  This 
army  of  restless  men  that  will  not  work 
easily  find  these  good  places  and  inform 
their  comrades  about  them. 

Now,  if  you  hear  these  men  speak,  they 
would  try  to  give  you  the  impression  of 
themselves  that  they  are  tremendously  in- 
terested in  the  present  labor  movements. 
They  hold  that  the  land  should  all  be  divided 
up  and  equally  distributed;  in  fact,  all 
wealth  should  be  equally  distributed,  yet 
they  never  expect  to  work  or  even  manage 
even  if  there  should  be  an  equal  distribution. 
That  class  of  men  are  not  true  representa- 


1 1 8     With  the  Union  Men 

tives  of  any  real  form  of  socialistic  move- 
ment, nor  are  they  representatives  of  the 
I.  W.  W.  movement.  However,  many  of 
these  men  claim  that  they  either  belong  to 
the  Socialists  or  the  I.  W.  W. 

There  is  even  another  class,  much  dif- 
ferent from  the  others  just  mentioned.  This 
class  of  men  will  work  at  anything,  and 
work  hard,  too.  But  they  despise  all  forms 
of  society  and  government.  They  carry  a 
bitter  hatred  toward  all  who  do  not  exactly 
agree  with  them.  The  members  of  this 
class  will  not  save  anything  even  if  they 
get  ten  dollars  a  day  for  their  work.  They 
simply  spend  all,  and  yet  they  are  fiercely 
jealous  of  any  person  who  even  owns  no 
more  than  just  his  small  home,  or  a  little 
Ford  car.  All  property  should  be  for  each 
and  all,  and  every  man  that  works  should 
not  only  have  what  he  produces,  but  much 
more.  They  claim  that  it  is  not  their  fault 
that  they  are  thrust  into  this  world,  and 
therefore  the  world  owes  them  something  to 
start  with. 

They  would  live  up  everything,  and  let 


Would-be  Union  Man    119 

tomorrow  take  care  of  itself.  It  is  a  class 
of  unhappy,  reckless,  shiftless,  irresponsible 
spendthrifts,  who  won't  reason  nor  change, 
but  just  hold  to  their  narrow  pet  ideas. 
Their  blood  comes  very  near  mingling  with 
that  of  the  most  radical  Socialists  and 
I.  W.  W. 

End. 


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